By: Barbara Zigah
The fallout from the U.S. downgrade continues at a rapid clip; a full 24-hour cycle has passed, with Asian, then European and finally, U.S. markets all suffering from sell-off fever. The flight to safe haven assets by investors has driven up the price of the Swiss Franc against the U.S. Dollar and the Euro, surely much to the chagrin of the policymakers of the Swiss National Bank. Also being pushed higher than the central bank would clearly like is the other safe-haven, the Japanese Yen.
As reported at 12:44 p.m. (JST) in Tokyo, the Swiss Franc struck another new record peak against the Euro, trading at 1.0605 Swiss Francs, before retreating to 1.0651, still a loss of 0.5%. The U.S. Dollar lost 0.7% of its value against the Swiss Franc, trading at 0.7494 Swiss Francs and very close to the record low of 0.7483 struck during yesterday’s trading session.
Currently, the only thing hold investors back is the prospect that the Swiss National Bank and the Bank of Japan might again intervene to stop their respective currency’s rise, which is detrimental to their economy. Analysts point out that the U.S. Dollar is now trading perilously close to the level at which the Bank of Japan intervened on August 4th. The U.S. Dollar slipped 0.8% lower against the Yen, trading at 77.15 Yen; the mid-March record trough of 76.25 Yen is being carefully eyed not just by investors but by Japan’s Minister of Finance.