European session review: USD mostly higher, as stimulus hopes wane and coronavirus worries intensify

USD firmed against most of its major counterparts in the European session on Monday as U.S. stimulus hopes waned, while coronavirus worries intensified. 

The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), measuring the U.S. currency's value relative to a basket of foreign currencies, rose 0.22% to 92.97.

Talks between the White House and House Democrats on a new fiscal stimulus package didn't make much headway. The U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday the House could pass a relief package this week but "that's up to [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch [McConnell] as to whether it would happen in the Senate and go to the president's desk, which is our hope and prayer." Pelosi also added that she sent the White House a list of remaining concerns she had on Friday and hopes to get answers on those issues on Monday. However, CNN reported, citing sources, that McConnell privately had urged the White House not to strike a stimulus deal before the election because there was no support among Senate Republicans to pass it.

Meanwhile, coronavirus cases in the U.S. hit a single-day record of 85,085 on Saturday. Overall, the number of COVID-19 infected people in the country has increased to 8,637,109, the most in the world, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. death toll from coronavirus has reached 225,239, also the most in the world. 

The White House chief of staff Mark Meadows acknowledged on Sunday that the U.S. is not going to control the coronavirus pandemic. "We’re not going to control the pandemic,” he told CNN. “We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigations.”