By FX Empire.com
On Thursday, the Swiss franc advanced against the dollar, taking the pair lower, after the improvement in Swiss trade data amid cautions in markets that the European summit on October 23 may be delayed.
Swiss trade surplus widened to 1.85 billion francs in September compared with the revised 0.76 billion francs surplus. Exports rose 3.4% from the revised 6.9% drop while imports advanced 1.3% from the revised -0.3%.
Also, Swiss economic confidence index surged to -54.4 in October from -75.7 a month before.
The jittery situation remained in markets amid rising speculations there will be a delay in the awaited European council meeting on Saturday and talks about a split among European leaders.
With diminishing hopes the SNB would raise the ceiling of the euro against the franc to 1.40 from the current 1.20, investors started to resort to the franc once again as a safe harbor on expectation there will be no further interventions from the SNB to weaken the Alpine currency.
On the other hand, data from the U.S. showed that initial claims fell to 403,000 in the week ended October 15 from the revised 409,000 a week before, higher than forecasts of 400,000, while existing home sales slipped 3.0% in September from the revised 8.4% rise, adding more negativity to the sentiment.
On Friday, the week ends with the release of money supply M3 for the year ending Sep. at 07:00 GMT, while the U.S. has no releases. Thus, the pair is expected to follow the general sentiment in market, where the main focus remains on the latest developments from the euro area.
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