At around 9:00 p.m. the euro lost 0.55% against the greenback at 1.0920 dollars. The day before, he had gained 0.6%.
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The dollar gained ground against the euro on Wednesday, in a market once again worried about the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic after disappointing American indicators.
Around 7:00 p.m. GMT (9:00 p.m. in Paris), the euro lost 0.55% against the greenback, at 1.0920 dollars. The day before, he had gained 0.6%.
“The US dollar is back in force as investors fear a major economic shock,” commented Augustin Doittau, broker on the foreign exchange market for Ebury.
The American currency, generally considered as a safe haven, had been under pressure in recent days, penalized by the ultra-accommodative measures of the American Federal Reserve and the encouraging figures on the front of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But the extent of the disaster in the United States caused by restrictive measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 was reflected in several indicators on Wednesday.
Retail sales thus fell 8.7% in March compared with February, the Commerce Department announced on Wednesday.
Industrial production fell 5.4% from February, according to data from the United States Federal Reserve (Fed). It was the largest fall since January 1946.
In the New York region, the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, manufacturing activity even dropped to its lowest level in history in early April, said the New York Fed office.
“The general feeling in the market is that the recovery will not reflect an abrupt V-shaped rebound, but that it will be slightly more gradual,” said Augustin Doittau.
The International Monetary Fund, for its part, predicted a contraction in world GDP of 3% this year, while stressing that the crisis could lead to a much more severe recession if the containment measures are not lifted by the end of June. and if economic activity did not resume in the second half.
Currencies whose movement is often influenced by fluctuations in black gold prices, such as the Canadian dollar or the Norwegian krone, also fell sharply against the greenback as oil prices fell. WTI’s price per barrel fell in New York to its lowest level since 2002.
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