USD/CHF weakens below 0.8500, eyes on Swiss CPI, GDP data

• USD/CHF loses traction around 0.8490 in Monday’s early European session.
• The US NFP for August will take center stage on Friday. 
• The rising Middle East geopolitical tensions might lift the Swiss Franc against the US Dollar. 

The USD/CHF pair edges lower to near 0.8490 during the early European trading hours on Monday. The downtick of the pair is backed by the weakening of the US Dollar (USD) amid the growing speculation that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) will cut the rate in the September meeting. The Swiss August Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the second quarter will be released on Tuesday. The Swiss economy is projected to grow 0.5% QoQ in Q2. 

The US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) dovish stance continues to weigh on the Greenback. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, a prominent hawk on the FOMC, said last week that it might be time to lower its borrowing cost due to further cooling inflation and a higher-than-expected Unemployment Rate. 

Alex Ebkarian, chief operating officer at Allegiance Gold, said that the PCE report confirmed inflation is no longer the Fed's main concern, as they have shifted their focus to unemployment data, which further validates the potential rate cuts in September. Investors will closely watch the release of US employment data on Friday, including the Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP), Unemployment Rate and Average Hourly Earnings for August. 

The NFP is forecasted to show 163K job additions in August, while the Unemployment Rate is estimated to tick lower to 4.2% in the same period. Any signs of the weakness in the US labor market might prompt the expectation of a Fed rate cut, which further exerts some selling pressure on the USD. 

The ongoing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East could boost the safe-haven currency like the Swiss Franc (CHF). The news agency CNN reported early Monday that protests have broken out across Israel after the country’s military recovered the bodies of six hostages it said Hamas had killed in Gaza. Israel’s largest labor group has called for a strike, saying the “entire Israeli economy will shut down.”