Swiss Franc Jumps to Record vs. Euro

The Swiss franc climbed the record against the euro and advanced versus all other most-traded currencies as the sovereign-debt issues in Europe continue to drive investors to safety.

Juergen Stark, a Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, said that restructuring of Greece’s debt “cannot, must not be the solution”. Olli Rehn, a European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, said in the interview to the French newspaper Les Echos that Greek debt maturities could be extended on a voluntary basis. All European leaders understand that something needs to be done with the debt issues. The problem is that they simply can’t agree how to deal with the crisis.

The franc also gained on the speculation that the Swiss National Bank will raise interest rates even as the currency remains very strong. Previously the SNB was very keen to take any steps necessary to weaken the franc, but now it looks like the central bank is content to allow markets to drive the currency.

USD/CHF dropped to 0.8727 from 0.8799 today, falling 0.9 percent, as of 22:29 GMT. EUR/CHF slipped 0.9 percent to 1.2289 from 1.2412, following the drop to the record low of 1.2269. CHF/JPY climbed to 93.99 from 93.09.

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