CHF struggles to find demand as a safe-haven on Friday. US Dollar Index pushes higher above the 98.50 mark. Nonfarm Payrolls in US is expected to come in at 160K in January. The USD/CHF pair closed the last four trading days in the positive territory and continued to edge higher on Friday to touch its best level since December 27th at 0.9772.

Being put on the currency manipulation watchlist by the United States will not change the Swiss National Bank’s (SNB) monetary policy, SNB Governing Board member Andrea Maechler said on Wednesday, per Reuters.

Major European stocks post modest losses on Wednesday. US Dollar Index clings to gains above 97.30. Coming up: Swiss National Bank’s (SNB) Quarterly Bulletin. The USD/CHF pair dropped to its lowest level since late August at 0.9798 on Wednesday but staged a technical recovery in the last hour. As of writing, the pair was up 0.05% on the day at 0.9808.

US Dollar Index erases daily recovery gains ahead of American session. European equity indexes stay in the negative territory. Coming up: Building Permits, Housing Starts and Industrial Production data from US. The USD/CHF lost its traction in the last couple of hours and retraced its daily recovery gains pressured by the sour market mood and the broad USD weakness.

In his prepared remarks delivered to pension managers on Thursday, Swiss National Bank Chairman Thomas Jordan said negative interest rates and readiness to intervene in the forex market was still essential to ease the pressure on the Swiss Franc.