USD/CHF slips to near 0.7800 as safe-haven demand weighs on US Dollar
USD/CHF depreciates after registering slight gains the previous day, trading around 0.7810 during Asian hours on Monday. The pair struggles as the US Dollar (USD) declines amid easing safe-haven demand, with traders assessing progress in US–Iran peace negotiations. Swiss SVME Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) will be eyed later in the day.
Data released on Friday showed that Switzerland’s real retail sales rose by 0.5% YoY in March, falling short of market expectations for a 1% increase, after a downwardly revised 0.4% gain in the prior month. On a seasonally adjusted monthly basis, sales posted a modest 0.1% rise, following a revised 0.1% decline recorded in February.
Mediation efforts to end the conflict have continued as the war in Iran enters its third month. Donald Trump hinted that Tehran’s latest peace proposal may fall short of expectations, Bloomberg reported Sunday. Iran has proposed setting a one-month deadline for talks aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending both the US naval blockade and the conflicts in Iran and Lebanon.
Another Bloomberg report indicated on Sunday that Donald Trump said the United States will begin guiding neutral ships trapped in the Persian Gulf out through the Strait of Hormuz starting Monday. The initiative is intended to help civilian vessels from non-aligned countries exit the contested waterway and resume normal operations.
However, an Iranian official warned that US interference in Hormuz will be considered a violation of the ceasefire, adding that the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf are not a place for rhetoric. Traders will closely monitor the developments surrounding the Middle East conflict and a continued blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Traders are likely awaiting the upcoming US employment report for April later this week. The US economy is expected to see 73K job additions in April, while the Unemployment Rate is projected to remain steady at 4.3% during the same period.
Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
You may also like
The Reserve Bank of India’s Efforts to Save the Rupee Deplete Reserves: $50 Billion Plunge in Forex Holdings, $200 Billion Forward Dollar Liabilities Become a Ticking Time Bomb
Foreign investors have made net sales of $31 billion in Indian stocks this year, and administrative controls are accelerating hedging demand towards the offshore NDF market, with the effectiveness of interventions continuously diminishing. The most critical risk lies in the fact that the yield spread between Indian and US 10-year government bonds has sharply dropped from 600 basis points in 2013 to just 200 basis points, with the traditional interest rate defense line nearly breached. India faces a dilemma: persisting on the current path will exhaust policy space, while relying on rate hikes to rebuild the yield spread would directly stifle economic growth.
As Starlink challenges telecom operators' pricing power, AT&T (T.US) sells its Mexico business for $2 billion, shifting focus to AI connectivity demand.
AT&T has agreed to sell its Mexico operations to Televisa and Fintech for $2 billion. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2027, pending approval from Mexican regulators.
Dovish Signals Boost Markets: Asia-Pacific Stocks Rebound, South Korea Shares Jump Over 1% Ending Five-Day Slide, Taiyo Yuden Surges 7%
On Wednesday, the MSCI Asia-Pacific Index rose by 0.2%, making a slight rebound from the low point reached on Tuesday, the lowest since August. South Korea's Composite Index briefly rose by over 2%. SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics both surged more than 3% during trading, then fell back. The Nikkei 225 expanded its gains to 0.53%. MLCC giant Taiyo Yuden led the AI hardware sector, while Fujikura rose nearly 4%. The yield on 10-year US Treasury futures remained at 5.21%, up 0.5 basis points from Tuesday.
Crypto prices
More
