USD/CHF turns sideways above 0.9800 after a minor correction, US NFP buzz

• USD/CHF is juggling in a 16-pips range as the focus shifts to US NFP data.
• Investors should brace for a third consecutive 75 bps rate hike by the Fed.
• Less-than-expected Real Retail Sales data have weakened the Swiss franc.

The USD/CHF pair is displaying back-and-forth moves in a narrow range of 0.9807-0.9823 in the Asian session. The asset has witnessed a time-based correction after printing a fresh six-week high at 0.9861. The pair is expected to resume its upside journey as the US dollar index (DXY) is displaying a stellar performance on a broader note.

Inflationary pressures in the US economy have already displayed signs of exhaustion after overstepping 9% for once as the inflation rate has scaled down to 8.5% in its prior reading. However, the ongoing rate is still extremely far from the desired rate of the Federal Reserve (Fed), which is 2%.

Therefore, the Fed will continue its path of hiking interest rates and a third consecutive rate hike by 75 basis points (bps) is highly likely in September monetary policy meeting.

In today’s session, investors’ entire focus will be on the more comprehensive and considered US Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) data, which is expected to land at 300k for August vs. 528k, recorded in July.

Earlier, the US Automatic Data Processing (ADP) reported 132k job additions with the deployment of unconventional methodology for employment scrutiny. Considering the cues from US ADP, a vulnerable performance is expected from the US NFP data ahead.

Meanwhile, less-than-expected Real Retail Sales data have weakened the Swiss franc. The economic data landed at 2.6%, lower than the consensus of 3.3% but remained higher than the prior release of 0.7%. Also, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has improved to 3.5% against expectations and the former print of 3.4% on an annual basis.