The USD/CHF pair rebounds to near 0.9050 in Friday’s European session after discovering buying interest around 0.9020. The Swiss Franc asset finds cushion as the US Dollar manages to have a firm footing amid a cautious market mood.
Market sentiment turns risk-averse amid uncertainty ahead of the United States core Personal Consumption Expenditure Price Index (PCE) data for April, which will be published at 12:30 GMT. S&P 500 futures have posted some losses in the European session. The US Dollar Index (DXY) rebounds slightly to 104.85.
In addition to the weak appeal of US equities, Asian equities also came under pressure as China’s weak National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Manufacturing and Non-Manufacturing PMI for May missed estimates. This has raised concerns over the global economic outlook.
The core PCE Inflation data, which is the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) preferred inflation gauge, is estimated to have grown steadily by 0.3% and 2.8% on monthly and annual basis, respectively. The underlying inflation data will provide cues about whether the Fed will start reducing interest rates from their current levels in September.
Currently, the CME FedWatch tool shows that traders are mixed about the likelihood of the central bank returning to the policy normalization process in September.
Meanwhile, the Swiss Franc is slightly down against the US Dollar but performed strongly on Thursday after the release of the better-than-expected Swiss Q1 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data. The Swiss economy expanded by 1.5% against the estimates and the former release of 1.3%. This has deepened upside risks to inflation, which could force the Swiss National Bank (SNB) to avoid subsequent rate-cut plans.