USD has gained ground against CHF after the increase in the Federal Funds Rate in the FOMC Statement today. The Federal Funds Rate was increase to 1.25% from previous rate of 1.00% which did provide USD with a solid support against CHF. Today is very important day for both USD and CHF as the US Federal Funds Rate decision has been announced by the FOMC and Switzerland's Libor Rate is going to be published at SNB Press Conference which is expected to be unchanged at -0.75%. The Libor Rate is the short-term interest rate report which is one of the most crucial factor for a CHF forex rate. If the report comes unchanged or better than expected, then CHF is likely to gain further against USD in the near term. On the USD side, today the economic calendar has Unemployment Claims report which is expected to decrease to 241k from the previous value of 245k, Empire State Manufacturing Index is expected to increase to 5.2 from -1.0 previously, Import Prices are expected to decrease to 0.1% from previous 0.5%, Philly Fed Manufacturing Index is expected to decrease to 25.5 from previous 38.8, Capacity Utilization Rate is expected to have a slight increase to 76.8% from 76.7%, and Industrial Production is expected to decrease to 0.2% from 1.0% previously. To sum up, the upcoming economic reports today could reveal mixed data and any negative report is set to strengthen CHF further against USD in the future.
Now let us look at the technical chart. The price closed above 0.9700 with a daily close yesterday. The pair is currently in a long term bearish trend but currently the price is expected to reach 0.9800 before price continues its bearish move along with the trend by rejecting off the level. The short-term bullish bias is expected to continue until price breaks below 0.9650 with a daily close.
