Swiss Franc Drops As Government Readies EU Relationship Framework

The Swiss Franc fell in Asia Pacific trade, extending a selloff that started Friday after the government said it will announce its plans for the future relationship with the EU this week. Relations are currently governed by a patchwork of individual agreements. Talks about a comprehensive institutional framework have been on-going for years. Within that context, the selloff may reflect protective pre-positioning.

Meanwhile, the Australian Dollar continued to fall, extending yesterday’s selloff as markets in China fell amid signs of trade war escalation. Mainland markets were offline for a holiday on Monday, making this the first opportunity for local investors to price in growing tension between Beijing and Washington DC. The former walked away from trade talks over the weekend after the latter issued another tariff hike.

Looking ahead, a lackluster offering of European economic data seems unlikely to inspire a meaningful response from FX market price action. US consumer confidence statistics are due in the latter part of the day but this too may pass without fireworks, with traders probably reluctant to commit to a directional bias on the US Dollar before Wednesday’s much-anticipated FOMC policy announcement.

ASIA PACIFIC TRADING SESSION

EUROPEAN TRADING SESSION

** All times listed in GMT. See the full economic calendar here.