Libyan Unrest Drives Swiss Franc (FXF) Higher

The Swiss Franc (CHF) benefited from its safe haven role today, as investors rushed into safer currencies influenced by the escalating violent crisis in Libya and political unrest in other Middle Eastern countries. Most of the gains came against another safe haven currency, the US Dollar, which seemingly has lost its safety appeal for the last couple of days as a side effect of the loose monetary policy by the Fed and the record high fiscal deficit compared to the other developed countries. The USD/CHF slid lower for the second straight day, reaching as low as 0.9306, only 5 pips away from the all time low of 0.9301 recorded on December 31st of last year. The currency pair has moved back from the lows for now and is trading at 0.9330s, but the near term future surely does not look bullish at all. The Swiss currency gained significantly against its major European counterparts as well, namely against the Euro (EUR) and the British Pound (GBP) while mostly trading sideways against the Japanese Yen (JPY). The EUR/CHF fell from 1.28 70s all the way to 1.2806 before recovering a little to 1.2820s, and the GBP/CHF dropped from 1.5230s to close the trading day at 1.5120s after briefly falling below the 1.51 level.