USD/CHF remains stuck in tight range near 0.9800
- 10-year US Treasury bond yield gains more than 1% on Thursday.
- US Dollar Index recovers modestly, turns flat near 97.40.
- Coming up on Friday: Third-quarter GDP data from US.
For the second straight day on Thursday, the USD/CHF pair fluctuates in a tight range near 0.9800 and struggles to set its next short-term direction.
The lack of significant macroeconomic data releases and fresh developments surrounding the US-China trade conflict causes the market action to remain subdued. Additionally, the market sentiment fails to provide any direction clues with the 10-year US Treasury bond yield adding more than 1% on Thursday while major European equity indexes suffer modest losses.
On the other hand, the US Dollar Index, which advanced to fresh weekly highs near 97.50 on Wednesday, turned flat on the day near 97.40 after retreating to 97.20 area earlier in the day to keep the pair's losses limited.
Eyes on Friday's important data releases from US
On Friday, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis will release the final reading of the third-quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data alongside the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index. The Federal Reserve looks at the annual core PCE Price Index as its preferred gauge of inflation.
The fact that FOMC Chairman Powell made it clear that a significant and persistent increase in inflation was required for the Fed to consider rate hikes suggests that the market could react sharply in case there is a large diversion from analysts' estimate of 1.6%.
Technical levels to watch for