USD/CHF remains confined in a range, around parity mark ahead of Powell’s testimony

Haresh Menghani FXStreet

• Subdued USD price action has failed to assist the pair to register any meaningful recovery.
• US-China trade optimism undermines safe-haven demand and helped limit deeper losses.
• Focus remains on the Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s semiannual testimony before the Congress.

The USD/CHF pair extended its sideways consolidative price action and remained confined within a one-week-old trading range, around the parity mark.

A combination of diverging factors failed to assist the pair to register any meaningful recovery from over two-week lows, set last week, and led to a subdued/range-bound price action for the fifth consecutive session.

Expectations that the Fed might refrain from raising interest rates further in 2019 kept exerting some downward pressure on the US Dollar and turned out to be one of the key factors keeping a lid on any attempted bounce.

The downside, however, remained cushioned in wake of the latest optimism over US-China trade negotiations, which dented the Swiss Franc's relative safe-haven status and helped limit deeper losses, at least for now.

Moving ahead, today's US economic docket, highlighting the release of Conference Board's consumer confidence index will be looked upon for some short-term trading opportunity during the early North-American session.

The key focus, however, will be on the Fed Chair Jerome Powell's semiannual testimony before Congress, which would be closely scrutinized for the central bank's policy outlook and eventually provide a fresh directional impetus.

Technical levels to watch

Immediate resistance is pegged near the 1.0025 region, above which the recovery could further get extended towards 1.0050 level before the pair eventually makes a fresh attempt towards conquering the 1.0100 key hurdle. On the flip side, the 0.9985-80 region now seems to have emerged as immediate support, which if broken is likely to accelerate the slide towards 0.9940 horizontal level en-route the 0.9910-0.9900 region.

Author

Haresh Menghani

FXStreet

Haresh Menghani is a detail-oriented professional with 10+ years of extensive experience in analysing the global financial markets.

GBP/USD loses momentum, flirts with 1.3200

GBP/USD is struggling to maintain its positive bias on Thursday, retreating toward the 1.3200 region in response to the pick in the buying interest around the Greenback. That said, Cable remains under scrutiny as cautious market sentiment keeps investors focused on the US-Iran conflict and political effervescence in the UK.

EUR/USD trims gains, challenges 1.1400

EUR/USD now gives away part of its earlier advance, receding toward the 1.1400 contention zone on Thursday. Meanwhile, the pair’s recovery comes amid extra losses in the US Dollar, at the time when while investors continue to monitor developments in the Middle East and sentiment surrounding global technology stocks.

Gold remains bid and close to $4,100

Gold accelerates its recovery and approaches the key $4,000 mark per troy ounce at the end of the week, adding to Thursday’s advance. However, expectations for a hawkish Fed remain steady and keep the yellow metal’s potential upside contained.

Crypto Today: Bitcoin at $60,000, Ethereum at $1,500, and XRP at $1 face a make-or-break test

Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Ripple (XRP) are trading in the red on Friday after three consecutive days of losses, testing their respective make-or-break support levels.

Week ahead – NFP report to challenge Dollar strength and the hawkish Fed

Dollar strength dominates markets, as the hawkish Fed overshadows geopolitics and lower oil prices. NFP week could drive September Fed hike expectations and boost market volatility. The euro lacks fresh bullish catalysts, all eyes on the preliminary inflation report and the ECB Forum.

Regime change: Inside Kevin Warsh's first move to make the Fed unreadable on purpose

The rate did not move. That was the least interesting thing about Kevin Warsh's first meeting in charge of the Fed. The FOMC held its benchmark at 3.50%-3.75% for the fourth straight meeting, exactly as priced, and then the new chair used his first press conference to dismantle the machinery the market has leaned on for a decade.