The low-yielding CHF and JPY are are safe harbors headed into the weekend as fears spread that any global economic rebound looks likely to be anemic. EUR/CHF has fallen back below 1.5200 despite repeated warnings from the SNB just today that it stands ready to intervene to weaken the franc as part of its quantitative easing strategy. It heads into the weekend at 1.5180.
The JPY has rebounded versus the dollar and the crosses today after overnight JPY weakness was contained near the 97.00 level again. We’ve spent recent sessions in a 95/97 range so traders see few choice opportunities to get involved in USD/JPY at present levels around 95.85.
Near-term, look for asset markets to tell the tale in USD/JPY and USD/CHF. Those pairings will lag broad USD strength while the stock, commodity and emerging markets remain weak.