European session review: USD mixed as U.S. infections surge and stimulus bets increase

USD traded mixed against its major counterparts in the European session on Friday after the United States reported a record-high single-day spike in new coronavirus infections on Thursday, fueling worries that a resurgence of the virus could shutter portions of the economy.

USD rose against GBP, AUD and CAD, fell against JPY and NZD, and changed little against EUR and CHF.

The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), measuring the U.S. currency's value relative to a basket of foreign currencies, edged up 0.03% to 97.46.

New coronavirus cases in the U.S. jumped by nearly 40,000 yesterday, led by a surge in infections in some southern and western states. On this background, Texas' Governor Greg Abbott suspended his state's re-opening plans, while California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a budget emergency.

According to the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering, the total number of confirmed global cases of the COVID-19 rose to 9,632,969, with the U.S. recording 2,422,312 coronavirus cases, the most in the world.  

Additional pressure on USD was put by investors' bets that the Fed will provide more financial stimulus if the U.S. economy experiences a second wave of shutdowns.

On Thursday, the Fed released its stress test results and sensitivity analysis for the banks, which revealed that some banks could get close to minimum capital levels in scenarios related to the coronavirus pandemic. Because of this, the Fed is to require banks to suspend share repurchases and keep dividend payments at current levels for the third quarter..