The dollar began the week firmly and within a whisker of milestone peaks against the euro and yen on Monday, as U.S. economic strength and a vaccine rollout proceeding much more quickly than in Europe drew investors into the greenback.
The euro sat at $1.1788, not far above last week’s four-and-a-half-month trough of $1.1762 and well below its 200-day moving average of about $1.1866.
The common currency is heading for its worst month since mid-2019 as Europe’s faltering vaccination programme runs into a wave of new infections, a bearish signal as positioning data shows investors remain heavily long euros.
The yen stood just shy of strong resistance and Friday’s 10-month low of 109.85 per dollar to trade at 109.77 early in the Asia session.
The yen is sensitive to gaps in returns on U.S. and Japanese government debt.
This year’s 76-basis-point rise in 10-year Treasury yields – as the U.S. economy rebounds – has opened the gap to its widest since last February. That has drawn Japanese investment, which has in turn helped push the yen down nearly 6% for the quarter. Read more
