The dollar continued to fall dramatically on Friday July 31, with it being set for its largest monthly drop in a decade, with investors feeling that the economy of the United States will struggle to revive itself due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The weakening dollar continued the rise of the euro, with the euro reaching values of $1.19, with this being its highest value since May 2018, the best month of growth since September 2010.
Confidence in the dollar dropped even further as U.S. president Donald Trump claimed that there is a chance that the presidential election set for November could be delayed on Thursday.
The announcement came on the same day that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by a yearly 32.9% during the second quarter, which is the quickest it has ever contracted since the Great Depression.
As a result of this, the dollar index plunged to the lows of 92.546, with these levels last being seen in May 2018.
The dollar dropped by 4.9% during July, with a high proportion of the drop coming in the last ten days due to a surge in cases of the virus across numerous states, with the economic recovery that was planned clearly falling short.
Unicredit analysts do not have a positive outlook for the dollar, claiming that they “continue to expect the USD weakness to persist in August, a month in which abrupt moves in intraday activity tend to be more likely due to lighter market conditions.”
They also added that “given ongoing global economic growth concerns, worries about further COVID-19 developments and the depreciation the U.S. dollar has already suffered in the past few weeks, we think that downward pressure on the greenback over the coming month will be less intense than it has been recently”.
The euro rose by 0.5% on the day, reaching highs of $1.1908, but then settling at $1.1897.
Prior to agreeing a €750 billion economic recovery fund, European Union leaders faced a euro that was trading below $1.10 in May, but now it seems that investors have regained their confidence in the currency once again.
The dollar’s drop during July has led to plenty of currencies that suffered during March and April to revive themselves gradually.
Against the yen, the dollar has managed to hit lows of 104.195 yen, settling at 104.36, losing 3.3% during the month.
The British pound managed to rise to $1.3142, a high that has not been reached in more than four months.