European session review: USD weakens as risk sentiment improves

USD fell against most of its major counterparts in the European session on Friday as investor risk sentiment improved on hopes for strong economic recovery and fast rollout of the U.S. vaccine programme. 

The other two traditional safe havens - the yen and the Swiss franc - also came under pressure. At the moment, the U.S. dollar is trading higher against JPY and CHF.

Official data showed on Thursday that claims for unemployment benefits in the U.S. dropped to a one-year low last week, indicating that the country's economy is on the verge of stronger recovery as the public health situation improves.

The latest data from CDC shows that 26.3% of the U.S. population has received one dose of a multi dose vaccine and 14.3% has been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. The U.S. President Joe Biden stated on Thursday that he will double his vaccination plan by the middle of May after reaching his previous goal of 100 million shots 42 days ahead of schedule.

It should be noted, however, that the U.S. currency's depreciation is coming in parallel with a jump in the U.S. Treasury bond yields, with benchmark 10-year notes rising five basis points to 1.674%, following yesterday's disappointing auction of $62 billion in 7-year notes.