The US dollar depreciated on Thursday following various reactions among market players. Investors are at a loss as to whether to be cautious or optimistic about the expectations of the Covid-19 vaccine that will most likely not be launched this winter.
This raises concerns as the second wave of pandemics in Europe and the United States increases.
The US dollar index, which measures the greenback against major currencies, declined slightly by 0.03% at the 92.993 conversion level as of 10.45 p.m. On the other hand, the AUD and New Zealand currencies, which are sensitive to the risk increase, depreciated against the US dollar. However, the Euro continued to strengthen by recording 0.24% to the exchange rate of 1.1805 against the US dollar. The GDP fell by 0.54% against the US dollar.
The UK economy bounced back from a recession with 15.5% growth in the third quarter of 2020, according to preliminary estimates published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) today. However, the published data deviated from market expectations for 15.8% growth.
Despite economic growth, the UK is still suffering from a spike in Covid-19 infections and the Brexit issue remains unresolved. The same thing happened in Europe with the growing number of infections and the restriction of Covid-19 transmission. German economic advisers have reduced economic growth projections for next year.
Meanwhile, more announcements about the Covid-19 vaccine are expected to be made in the coming weeks, especially Moderna which uses the same technology as Pfizer in its vaccine testing.
The market focus is now on panel discussions on monetary policy at the European Central Bank (ECB) Forum which will involve ECB President Christine Lagarde, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Bank of England (BOE) Governor Andrew Bailey tonight.
