European session review: USD weakens as coronavirus vaccine hopes and M&A news boost risk appetite

USD fell against most other major currencies in the European session on Monday as risk sentiment was lifted by news about a series of multi-billion M&A-deals in the tech and pharmaceutical sectors and the resumption of AstraZeneca/Oxford University's coronavirus vaccine trial.

Oxford University announced on Saturday that it is resuming testing of a Covid-19 vaccine it is developing with AstraZeneca (ANZ). The late-stage trial was paused last week following the unexplained illness of one of its participants in the UK. 

In addition, Pfizer's (PFE) CEO Albert Bourla stated that the company should know by the end of October whether its coronavirus vaccine candidate will work. If Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine gets approved, it could be distributed in the U.S. by the end of 2020, he added. 

Improving risk sentiment was further reinforced by the announcements that Nvidia (NVDA) agreed to acquire chip designer Arm Holdings for $40 billion, while Gilead Sciences (GILD) reached an agreement to purchase biotech company Immunomedics (IMMU) for $21 billion. In addition, the NY Times reported that Oracle (ORCL) emerges as the preferred buyer for TikTok's U.S. business.

Market participants are looking for an interest rates decision from the Federal Reserve and a press conference from its Chairman Jerome Powell later this week. It is expected that the Fed will keep its rates and QE unchanged at the September meeting.