USD/CHF finds resistance at 0.8100 but stands tall awaiting Fed’s Powell

US Dollar finds resistance at 0.8100 but remains steady above previous weekly highs.
The US Dollar strengthens across the board as the market holds its breath ahead of Fed Powell's speech.
Weak Swiss data has added bearish pressure on the Swiss Franc this week.

Guillermo Alcala FXStreet

The US Dollar is trimming daily gains against the Swiss Franc on Friday. The pair’s rebound from Thursday’s lows at 0.8025 has been capped at 0.8100 earlier today, but remains above previous weekly highs, at 0.8090, ahead of the widely expected speech by Fed Chair Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole Symposium.

Traders will be looking for signals of any change in Powell’s rhetoric after the Nonfarm Payrolls shock rattled markets earlier in the month, and the soft CPI released shortly afterwards prompted investors to ramp up bets of immediate monetary easing.

Strong US data raises concerns of a hawkish Powell

More recent data, however, revealed a significant increase in factory prices and strong manufacturing and services activity, pointing to a resilient economy, which has triggered some doubts about the tone of Chairman Powell’s speech.

Fed speakers left all possibilities open on Thursday, Cleveland President Hammack showed concern about the inflationary impact of tariffs, while Boston Fed President Collins signalled openness to a rate cut in September amid risks of a weakening labour market.

In Switzerland, the calendar was light this week, but industrial production figures released earlier showed that factory activity declined and that the trade surplus narrowed, amid a 2.7% decline in exports. These data add pressure on the SNB to ease interest rates into negative levels, and have weighed heavily on the CHF.

Economic Indicator

Fed's Chair Powell speech

Jerome H. Powell took office as a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System on May 25, 2012, to fill an unexpired term. On November 2, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Powell to serve as the next Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Powell assumed office as Chair on February 5, 2018.

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