The euro rose against the dollar on Monday in a market awaiting the hearing of the President of the American Central Bank (Fed) Jerome Powell on Tuesday and Wednesday before US parliamentarians.
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At around 8:00 p.m. GMT (9:00 p.m. in Paris), the euro rose 0.38% against the dollar, to 1.2165 dollars to the euro.
"The Fed has promised to keep a flexible policy and several of its members, including President Jerome Powell, explained that it was far too early to talk about tightening the screws,"
UBS analysts recalled.
They therefore believe that the dollar will continue to decline, having already hit its lowest in two and a half years against the single European currency in January.
Nonetheless, bond rates have started to rise in the United States, and if inflation climbs, the Fed may be forced to act.
"The market will follow with even more attention than usual the hearing of Mr. Powell in the Senate,"
summarized Lee Hardman, analyst at MUFG.
The Fed boss will speak first to a US Senate committee on Tuesday, then to a group of House of Representatives deputies the next day.
The British pound, meanwhile, hit new highs against the dollar ($ 1.4086 per pound at 5.35 p.m. GMT, the highest since April 2018) and against the euro (86.33 pence per euro at 4.50 p.m. GMT, highest since early March 2020).
The British currency has been galvanized since the start of the year by the post-Brexit trade agreement and by a rapid vaccination campaign.
Deconfinement plan
The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, presented on Monday a progressive plan to get England out of the containment, imposed at the beginning of January in the face of an explosion of the epidemic linked to the variant which appeared in Kent.
The British government has announced it is targeting a reopening of non-essential shops and museums from April 12 in England.
Cinemas, hotels, stadiums (with a maximum of 10,000 people) and restaurants will follow from May 17th.
The aim is to lift the last restrictions in June.
Finally, bitcoin, which hit a new high on Sunday at $ 58,350.41, yielded 3.61% to $ 53,619.74.
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday called the cryptocurrency
"extremely inefficient"
for conducting transactions and denounced its frequent use
"for illicit finance
.
"