USD/CHF extends downside below 0.8500 on softer US Dollar, dovish Fed

• USD/CHF trades in negative territory for the third consecutive day near 0.8460 in Thursday's early Asian session. 
• Weaker US economic data and dovish Fed weigh on the US Dollar. 
• Softer inflation in Switzerland supports the case for another rate cut by the SNB.

The USD/CHF pair extends its decline around 0.8460 during the early European session on Thursday. The growing speculation that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) will cut a larger interest rate in September exerts some selling pressure on the US Dollar (USD). Investors will focus on the release of the US ISM Services Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), the ADP report on private-sector employment and weekly Initial Jobless Claims on Thursday ahead of the highly anticipated August Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP). 

The recent weaker US economic data and the dovish stance of the Fed continue to undermine the Greenback broadly. The US Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that available positions declined to 7.67 million in July, compared with 7.91 million openings in June, the Labor Department revealed Wednesday. This report came in worse than the estimation of 8.1 million.

Meanwhile, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said on Wednesday that he is ready to start cutting interest rates even though inflation remains above the 2% target.  San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said early Thursday that the central bank needs to cut interest rates to keep the labor market healthy, but she needs more data, including Friday's job market report and CPI, to determine the size of a rate cut. 

On the Swiss front, Swiss inflation slowed more than expected in August, prompting the expectation for another interest rate cut by the Swiss National Bank (SNB). Switzerland's Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 1.1% YoY in August, compared to the previous reading of 1.3%, below the market consensus of 1.2%. On a monthly basis, the CPI inflation remains unchanged in August from a decline of 0.2% in July, softer than the expectation of a 0.1% increase.