The dollar rose to a three-week high on Thursday, as stock markets weakened broadly after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell dismissed speculation over US interest rates entering negative territory.
Comments from top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci earlier this week, warning about the premature lifting of lockdowns that could lead to additional outbreaks of the deadly novel coronavirus, also dented market sentiment, analysts said.
"This whole week has been fairly risk off. There's a lot of factors to point to, from Powell, to Fauci, to Trump," said John Doyle, vice president of dealing and trading, at Tempus Inc. in Washington.
"Still, the dollar is king when this happens," he added. US President Donald Trump on Thursday said he was disappointed with China over its failure to contain the coronavirus, and that the pandemic cast a pall over his US-China trade deal.
His comments stoked concerns about renewed US-China trade tensions. Against a basket of its rivals, the dollar was up 0.3% at 100.41, hitting a three-week high of 100.56 earlier in the session.
The euro was down 0.2% against the dollar at $1.0793. The Australian dollar fell sharply after data showed the country shed jobs in April at the fastest pace on record, suggesting more monetary and fiscal easing may be needed to support the economy. The Aussie dollar was last down 0.4% at US$0.6430.
The pound also tumbled below the $1.22 line for the first time in more than five weeks after Wednesday's data showed Britain's economy shrank by a record 5.8% in March as the coronavirus crisis escalated.
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