USD/CHF drops to fresh three-week lows near 0.9700

• Risk aversion continues to dominate markets on Thursday.
• 10-year US Treasury bond yield slumps to new all-time lows.
• Coming up: Q4 GDP and Durable Goods Orders data from US.

After closing the previous day virtually unchanged near 0.9760, the USD/CHF pair turned south on Thursday and slumped to its lowest level since February 5th at 0.9710. As of writing, the pair was down 0.55% on a daily basis at 0.9715.

Eyes on US data

The sharp fall witnessed in the US Treasury bond yields continues to weigh on the greenback. The 10-year T-bond yield is losing more than 4% on Thursday and stays at fresh all-time lows amid the intense flight-to-safety and forces the US Dollar Index stretch lower.

At the moment, the index is down 0.4% on the day at 98.75. Later in the session, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis will release its second estimate of the fourth-quarter GDP growth, which is expected to tick lower to 1.4% from 1.5% in the previous estimate. Other data from the US will include weekly Initial Jobless Claims and Durable Goods Orders.

In the meantime, major European equity indexes are erasing between 2% and 2.3% on Thursday to reflect the dismal market mood. Heightened fears over a protracted global economic slowdown amid rising confirmed coronavirus infections continue to ramp up the demand for traditional safe-haven assets.

Technical levels to watch for