USD/CHF trades in red near 0.9900 after SNB Chairman Jordan comments

• SNB’s Jordan repeats that they remain ready to intervene.
• US Dollar Index posts modest daily gains above 98.30.
• Coming up: Inflation data from the US and FOMC Chairman Powell’s speech.

The USD/CHF pair extended its slide into a third straight day on Wednesday and touched its lowest level in more than a week at 0.9894. As of writing, the pair was trading at 0.9900, losing 0.3% on a daily basis.

Sour sentiment helps CHF gather strength

The uncertainty surrounding the United States (US) – China trade dispute seems to be weighing on the market sentiment to help the CHF find demand as a safe-haven. In his highly-anticipated speech  at the Economic Club of New York on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said that they would ‘substantially’ increase tariffs on Chinese imports if they were to fail to reach a deal.

Reflecting the dismal market mood, the 10-year US Treasury bond yield is down more than 3% on the day and Wall Street’s main indexes look to open the day lower with the S&P 500 Futures erasing 0.4%.  

In the meantime, Swiss National Bank (SNB) Chairman Thomas Jordan on Wednesday repeated that the monetary policy with negative interest rate and readiness for intervention were  still necessary, keeping the CHF’s gains limited for the time being.  

In the early trading hours of the American session, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) data will be looked upon for fresh impetus. Later in the session, Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) Chairman Jerome Powell will be speaking on the US economic outlook before the Joint Economic Committee. Ahead of these events, the US Dollar Index is up 0.04% on the day at 98.36.

Technical levels to watch for