Forex Today: Vaccine, earnings optimism downs the dollar; eyes on COVID-19 stats, BOE’s Bailey

Here is what you need to know on Monday, July 13:

The risk-on sentiment emerged as the main market driver starting out the week, amid a quiet Asian affair, in the absence of relevant macro news.

US dollar remained on the back foot amid the upbeat market mood, as the coronavirus vaccine optimism, following Friday’s Gilead’s latest report and antiviral drug trials underway in China and Australia, continued to dull dollar’s safe-haven appeal.

Expectations of upbeat US earnings reports this week and reports that President Donald Trump wore a mask for the first time bolstered the appetite for the higher-yielding assets.

The Asian stocks rallied 2% while the S&P 500 futures gained 0.50%. Markets paid little heed to the growing virus count across the globe. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported record daily increase in global cases, up over 230,000. The biggest increases were from the US, Brazil, India and South Africa.

Within the G10 fx basket, the aussie dollar was the outperformer, with AUD/USD heading back towards 0.7000. GBP/USD jumped to near 1.2670 levels amid the risk-on mood and UK stimulus optimism. The kiwi failed to benefit and traded flat around 0.6580.

USD/CAD extended the drop below 1.3600 despite the decline in oil prices. WTI fell nearly 1% to test the $40 mark amid talks of the OPEC+ easing the output cuts at its meeting due later this week.

EUR/USD firmed up above 1.1300 despite the US imposing tariffs on French imports for up to $1.3 billion, in response to France’s digital services tax. USD/JPY, meanwhile, traded listless below 107.00, as traders await fresh impetus from the critical US CPI and Retail Sales due for release in the week ahead.

Gold started the week on the front foot above $1,800 a troy ounce, underpinned by broad US dollar weakness and looming virus concerns.

Cryptocurrencies consolidated the previous spike, with Bitcoin holding up above $9200.