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Euro coins on a dollar banknote
Photo: Michael Probst/ AP
Many citizens will feel this development on vacation - at least if they spend it outside the euro zone: the common currency, the euro, continues to lose value, especially against the dollar.
At the start of the week, the exchange rate of the euro reached its lowest level in 20 years.
On Monday afternoon, the euro cost just 1.0053 US dollars.
This means that the course is only just above parity with the dollar, a threshold that is above all psychologically important.
This means a one-to-one exchange ratio.
The European Central Bank (ECB) set the reference rate at 1.0098 (Friday: 1.0163) dollars.
The dollar officially cost 0.9903 (0.9840) euros.
A major reason for the weakness of the euro is the fear of an energy crisis in Europe.
The maintenance-related shutdown of the gas pipeline Nord Stream 1 began on Monday. "The danger of an energy crisis in Europe is the sword of Damocles, which hovers over the euro exchange rates and weighs on them," said currency expert Ulrich Leuchtmann from Commerzbank.
In his opinion, there can hardly be any relief before the end of the pipeline maintenance work, which usually takes ten days.
And every day the maintenance work takes longer than planned could further weigh on the euro, Leuchtmann warned.
Interest rate development gives the dollar a boost
A strong dollar also put pressure on the euro.
The market is focused on new inflation data from the US, which is expected on Wednesday.
A further increase in the inflation rate to 8.8 percent is expected for June.
According to experts, this would indicate a significant interest rate hike of 0.75 percentage points by the US Federal Reserve this month.
The prospect of further sharp rises in interest rates in the USA, while the turnaround in interest rates in the euro zone is not expected until July, is boosting the dollar and weighing on the euro.
For other important currencies, the ECB set the reference rates for one euro at 0.84540 (0.84585) British pounds, 138.77 (138.05) Japanese yen and 0.9908 (0.9913) Swiss francs.
An ounce of gold was trading at $1,738 in London this afternoon.
That was about four dollars less than on Friday.
beb/dpa