In mid-March the Swiss Franc weakened to virtual parity with the US Dollar at 1.00926. In the next eight weeks it steadily strengthened to its six month low to 0.91222 to the US Dollar, a 9.618% gain. In the weeks following USD/CHF six month high, the Franc steadily strengthened vs the greenback. In spite of the efforts of the Swiss National Bank to weaken the Franc in order to protect its export dependent economy, it stubbornly remained strong relative to the majors. With growing uncertainty over which way the US Federal reserve will direct its benchmark target overnight rate, the question becomes whether Fed actions will have a measurable impact on USD/CHF.
Weeks after the Swiss National Bank could no longer defend the Euro, there were still reverberations. For example, the Swiss ZEW investor survey plunged over 62 points, settling at a negative 73. The sentiment indicates, of the 350 economist surveyed over 250 expressed negative sentiment. Further, expectations and public SNB comments strongly indicated further action to weaken the Franc.
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