EUR/CHF bid helping to underpin the euro

EUR/CHF up a half-cent in past 90 minutes

Whenever a big bid hits EUR/CHF, everyone casts an eye towards the Swiss National Bank as they attempt to devalue the franc.

Earlier today SNB officials revealed September foreign exchange reserves. They showed 514.54B francs in reserve, up from 540.03B the month before. It's the fourth consecutive months of gains but often reserves vales are skewed by the value of the underlying currency (CHF in this case).

Interestingly, Swiss franc three month libor slipped to 0.725% from 0.731% today and that's the lowest since Sept 1.

Alone, those are tiny factors so it's tough to see any real evidence the SNB is at work. The better takeaway is that some of the broad euro strength is probably due to EUR/CHF flows and it's probably not be a true reflection of euro demand on other crosses.