USD/CHF slumps to 0.9760 area on broad USD weakness
- US Dollar Index slips below 97.20 on Friday.
- European stocks post modest daily gains after Christmas break.
- Wall Street's main indexes look to open in positive territory.
The broad-based selling pressure surrounding the greenback on Friday caused the USD/CHF pair to pierce through the 0.9800 handle. As of writing, the pair was trading at its lowest level in more than four months at 0.9764, losing 0.5% on a daily basis.
USD weakens after Christmas
Earlier in the week, the US Dollar Index rose to its highest level in more than two weeks at 97.82 supported by the upbeat macroeconomic data releases. However, thin liquidity conditions following the Christmas holiday and year-end flows seem to be weighing on the greenback on the last trading day of the week. As of writing, the index was down 0.38% on the day at 97.19.
On the other hand, major European equity indexes are posting modest daily gains to reflect relatively positive market sentiment. Additionally, Nasdaq Futures and Dow Jones Futures are up 0.4% and 0.3%, respectively, to suggest that Wall Street's main indexes are likely to start the day on a strong footing to confirm the upbeat mood, which could make it difficult for the safe-haven CHF to find demand in the second half of the day.
Ahead of the one day break on January 1st, the economic calendar won't be featuring any significant macroeconomic data releases and the choppy market action is likely to continue until next Friday's ISM Manufacturing PMI data from the US.
Technical levels to watch for
Author
Eren Sengezer
FXStreet
As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.
