The Greenback continued on its descending route with the USDJPY breaching well below 110 and EURUSD hitting a new high since October 2015 at 1.1454. The Fed minutes largely confirmed that there will not be a rate rise in April, and little prospect for a hike in June.
World’s largest asset manager Blackrock warned about prices picking up due to “stabilizing oil prices and a tighter labor market… “. They recommend protecting against inflation through inflation-linked bonds and gold.
Swiss unemployment fell in February to 3.7% from 3.8% in January. Although there is a seasonal factor to take into consideration, hiring generally only really starts to pick up in the month of March. CPI figures in February also bettered expectations with prices rising 0.2% compared to a drop of -0.4% in January and -0.1% expected. These, are first signs of improvements after a very difficult year in 2015. It will be interesting to see whether the Swiss economy can keep up the momentum over the coming months.
Swiss GDP numbers came out significantly better than economist’s had anticipated. Swiss exports which rose 3.9% QoQ and 9.5% YoY is the main driver for the beat. The fact the EURCHF gravitated between 1.07 and 1.0950 and USDCHF traded close to parity during that period may have given the Swiss economy some respite.
