No Need for Safety, Swiss Franc Suffers

Commodities and global equities recovered today from the last week’s sharp decline, signaling that investors became less interested in safe assets. Such shift of market sentiment harmed the Swiss franc.

Concerns about the sovereign-debt problems of Greece and the whole European Union subsided somewhat after the spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that a restructuring of Greece’s debt wasn’t considered the EU official said the progress of Greece in fixing its economic issues is being studied. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.5 percent and the MSCI World Index gained 0.7 percent. The Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of raw materials advanced 1 percent, following the 9 percent drop last week, the biggest decline since December 2008.

Swiss Franc Sets New Records on Continued Positive Sentiment

The  Swiss  currency  reached  a  new  all-time  record  against  the  US  dollar  and  did  well  against  the  other  major  currency  pairs  today,  as  the  market  participants  continued  to  base  their  positions  on  the  positive  monthly  outlook  report  released  earlier  by  the  central  bank  of  Switzerland.

The  franc  rose  against  the  US  dollar,  breaking  the  record  high  level  set  on  April  21  —  the  USD/CHF  pair  is  in  a  constant  bearish  wave  since  June  2010.  The  Swiss  franc  also  gained  against  the  euro,  following  3  days  of  rather  directionless  trading,  and  also  outperformed  the  Japanese  yen  today.  Traders  are  reacting  to  speculations  that  the  country’s  monetary  policy  may  be  tightened  soon.

Swiss franc keeps firm footing

Swiss franc held near two-week highs on Friday, having powered higher on mounting Middle East tensions, while the U.S. dollar lost steam, putting its rebound this month from a three-month low at risk.

The Swiss currency, traditionally sought in times of heightened geopolitical tension, stayed near two-week highs versus the dollar and euro as unrest spread across the Middle East and North Africa.