U.S. Dollar Rose Against Major Rivals Ahead of New Year

The U.S. dollar or greenback as many people call it rose against major rivals in holiday-thinned trading on Thursday, as investors remained cautiously optimistic about the economic impact of a surge in cases of the omicron variant of Covid-19.

The data showed that the number of new cases globally hit a record high over the past seven days, nonetheless, comforted by data suggesting the virus may turn out to be milder than in previous waves, many governments resisted imposing widespread new lockdowns.

The dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against major peers, gained 0.39% to 96.19. It rose after the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average stock indexes closed at all-time highs on Wednesday. 

The euro dropped 0.38% to $1.1304 after touching a month high on Wednesday. 

Economists from Berenberg said in a note that a slowdown in economic activity would likely be short-lived.

Dollar, pound, yuan, and lira

The British pound fell 0.2% against the dollar to $1.346.

China’s domestic spot yuan finished its domestic session at 6.3793 per dollar, its worst result since November 29. 

Also, the Turkish lira continued to decline and was down 3.5% at 13.05 per dollar, after having fallen 6.9% on Wednesday.

Bitcoin was in a stable position after two days of losses. It was last around $46,915.

Intriguingly, the German government bond yield steadied around an almost two-month high. It rose in the previous days as fading fears about the economic impact of the pandemic boosted risk appetite. 

Meantime, Italian government bond prices were slightly outperforming peers, after underperforming in the previous sessions. 

Germany’s 10-year benchmark yield was flat at -0.18% while Italy’s 10-year government bond yield dropped 2 basis points to 1.143%.