Swiss Franc falls as Middle East tensions keep Fed rate hike expectations alive

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The Swiss Franc (CHF) weakens against the US Dollar (USD) on Thursday as the Greenback regains its footing following a two-day decline. At the time of writing, USD/CHF trades around 0.8080, up nearly 0.35% on the day, rebounding from an intraday low of 0.8044.

Swiss Franc weakens as the US Dollar rebounds from a two-day decline.
Middle East tensions keep inflation concerns and Fed hike expectations alive.
The SNB maintains its willingness to counter excessive Franc appreciation.

The US Dollar came under selling pressure earlier this week after both the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Producer Price Index (PPI) reports for June came in below market expectations. The softer inflation figures reduced the chances of an imminent Federal Reserve (Fed) interest rate hike.

However, renewed tensions in the Middle East are driving Oil prices higher again, keeping inflation risks and expectations of a Fed interest rate hike later this year alive.

According to the CME FedWatch Tool, markets are pricing in a 58% chance of a rate hike by September, rising to 65% by October and 76% by December.

The Greenback found additional support from Thursday’s US economic data. Initial Jobless Claims fell to 208K in the week ending July 11. The reading was below the 217K forecast.

US Retail Sales rose 0.2% MoM in June, in line with expectations. May's reading was slightly revised upward to 1.0% from 0.9%. The Retail Sales Control Group also came in as expected at 0.5%, down from May's 0.8% increase.

The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the Greenback's value against a basket of six major currencies, is trading around 100.72 after falling to 100.35 on Wednesday, its lowest level since June 18.

On the Swiss side, the latest summary of the Swiss National Bank's (SNB) June monetary policy decision showed that. Swiss Franc had depreciated somewhat against the US Dollar and the Euro since its March assessment, contributing to easier monetary conditions. Policymakers said current monetary conditions are appropriate and price stability is not at risk.

However, the SNB warned that geopolitical uncertainty could put upward pressure on the Swiss Franc and reiterated its increased willingness to intervene in the foreign exchange market.

US Dollar Price Today

The table below shows the percentage change of US Dollar (USD) against listed major currencies today. US Dollar was the strongest against the British Pound.

	USD	EUR	GBP	JPY	CAD	AUD	NZD	CHF
USD		0.19%	0.38%	0.15%	-0.02%	-0.03%	0.03%	0.35%
EUR	-0.19%		0.19%	-0.06%	-0.21%	-0.14%	-0.15%	0.15%
GBP	-0.38%	-0.19%		-0.22%	-0.38%	-0.34%	-0.33%	-0.01%
JPY	-0.15%	0.06%	0.22%		-0.19%	-0.10%	-0.11%	0.20%
CAD	0.02%	0.21%	0.38%	0.19%		0.08%	0.08%	0.38%
AUD	0.03%	0.14%	0.34%	0.10%	-0.08%		0.02%	0.32%
NZD	-0.03%	0.15%	0.33%	0.11%	-0.08%	-0.02%		0.30%
CHF	-0.35%	-0.15%	0.01%	-0.20%	-0.38%	-0.32%	-0.30%

The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the US Dollar from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the Japanese Yen, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent USD (base)/JPY (quote).