LONDON: The euro struggled to join a broader risk rally against the dollar on Wednesday as analysts said the risk of extended lockdowns in Europe to combat the spread of COVID-19 and the continent’s lag in a vaccine rollout were weighing on the currency.
Down 0.1% against the dollar at $1.2117 by 1130 GMT, Europe’s shared currency had only the safe-haven Swiss franc and Sweden’s crown for company in resisting a broad rally against the greenback by the G-10 group of currencies.
“We’re getting more headlines that the current lockdowns will be extended further, which could mean that the euro zone would be flirting with a double-dip recession before long,” said Valentin Marinov, head of G10 FX research at Credit Agricole, noting Europe’s lag in rolling out a coronavirus vaccine compared to the United States and Britain.
“So all of that plays into the story that tomorrow’s ECB meeting, while uneventful in terms of policy announcements, could convey a relatively dovish message to the market. On top of that, President Lagarde could once again jawbone the euro, so the euro is kind of lagging behind.”
Marinov also noted price action in the pound, which hit $1.3720 - a 2-1/2-year high - and 88.38 pence - its highest since May 2020 against the euro - as a contributing factor to euro weakness.
There was also focus on a story by Bloomberg News, which reported the European Central Bank was conducting its bond purchases with specific yield spreads in mind, a strategy that would be reminiscent of yield curve control.
Elsewhere, the risk-sensitive Australian dollar gained 0.4% to $0.7727. The New Zealand dollar, also a commodity currency like the Aussie, gained 0.25% to $0.7133.
While the world will be watching Joe Biden’s inauguration as US president at noon in Washington (1700 GMT), traders were more focused on his policies than the ceremony.
US Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen urged lawmakers at her confirmation hearing to “act big” on stimulus spending and said she believes in market-determined exchange rates, without expressing a view on the dollar’s direction.
The index that measures the dollar’s strength against a basket of peers was up almost 0.1% at 90.510. The euro forms nearly 60% of the dollar index by weight.
It also fell 0.1% against the Japanese yen to 103.81 yen per dollar.
While the dollar has perked up in recent weeks on the back of a rise in US Treasury yields, investors still expect the currency to weaken.
“We remain bearish US dollar, and expect the downtrend to resume as US real yields top out,” said Ebrahim Rahbari, FX strategist at CitiFX.
“Continued Fed dovishness remains important for our view, in addition to global recovery, so we’ll watch upcoming Fed-speak closely.”
Positioning data shows investors are overwhelmingly short dollars as they figure that budget and current account deficits will weigh on the greenback.
UBS Global Wealth Management’s chief investment officer Mark Haefele reiterated a bearish view on the dollar, saying that pro-cyclical currencies such as the euro, commodity-producer currencies, and the pound would benefit “from a broadening economic recovery supported by vaccine rollouts”.
The cryptocurrency Bitcoin fell 4%, trading at $34,468.
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