Swiss Franc at Record vs. Dollar & Euro

The Swiss franc jumped to the record price against the US dollar and the euro as the signs of stalling global recovery made traders seek safety, drawing them to Switzerland’s currency.

US employers added only 38,000 jobs in May, according to the report of Automatic Data Processing Inc., compared to the April change of 177,000. The Purchasing Managers’ Index of the Institute for Supply Management slipped to 53.5 in May from 60.4 in April. China’s PMI went down from 52.9 to 52.0.

The economic conditions in Switzerland itself were also beneficial to the franc. The retail sales surged 7.5 percent in March (on year-on-year basis), following the drop by 0.2 percent in February. The Swiss PMI increased to 59.2 in May from 58.4 in April. The positive economic data spurred speculation that the Swiss National Bank will increase interest rates on its next policy meeting.

USD/CHF went down to 0.8423 from 0.8539 as of 21:59 GMT today after posting the intraday low of 0.8381. EUR/CHF slumped to 1.2068 from 1.2293. CHF/JPY climbed to 95.98 from 95.43 and reached earlier 96.33, the highest level since September 2008.

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