USD/CHF pushes to fresh session highs on robust NFP data

Although the greenback was sold-off in the first minutes following the employment report from the United States, it didn't take long for investors to change their assessment of the data. After quickly falling towards the 0.96 handle, the USD/CHF pair reversed course and refreshed its session high around mid-0.96s. At the moment, the pair is trading at 0.9647, up 0.43% on the day.

The data from the U.S. revealed that the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4% in June from 4.3% in May and the average hourly earnings remained steady at 0.2% and missed the market expectation of 0.3%. On the bright side, nonfarm employment growth came in at 222K, the second highest reading of 2017, and beat the consensus of 179K. Also, the fact that the number of part-time workers didn't change much shows that the majority of people who started working are in full-time jobs, which is likely to boost the wage inflation.

• US: Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 222,000 in June

Later in the session, the Federal Reserve's Monetary Policy Report, which contains discussions of the conduct of monetary policy and economic developments and prospects for the future, will be released. In the meantime, the major equity indexes started the day mixed, failing to point to a clear market sentiment for the time being. 

Technical outlook

The pair could encounter the initial hurdle at 0.9670 (20-DMA) ahead of 0.9735 (Jun. 26 high) and 0.9800 (psychological level/May 30 high). On the downside, supports could be seen at 0.9600 (psychological level), 0.9550 (Jun. 29 low) and 0.9500 (psychological level).