The euro was weakening against the dollar on Wednesday, weighed down by renewed concerns around the delta version, and the pound showing no clear direction after revising below UK GDP in the first quarter.

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Around 7:10 a.m. GMT (11:00 a.m. in Paris), the euro lost 0.40% against the greenback at $1.1850. “Worries about virus around the world support blue chip stocks”Oanda analyst Jeffrey Haley explains. Like the dollar, it is often considered a safe haven. After a two-and-a-half-month decline, COVID-19 contamination is increasing in Europe, mainly due to the delta variant in the United Kingdom and Russia, where it is causing new epidemic outbreaks.

In the month of June, the greenback has risen sharply against the euro (+3.1%) as well as a basket of other major currencies (+2.91%). Gained in mid-June on signals from the US Federal Reserve (Fed). ) in favor of raising interest rates a little earlier than expected, after its Monetary Committee meeting.

Waiting for employment figures

Currency traders are now awaiting US employment and unemployment data on Friday. The good numbers mean the US economy is approaching full employment, one of the goals of the US Central Bank, which may feel more free to normalize its monetary policy, which would make the dollar more attractive. .

The pound was hesitant after Wednesday’s review by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) of Britain’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter is now forecast to fall 1.6% against a 1.5% drop in the first assessment. this slight downward revision “Probably will not prevent the economy from returning to its pre-pandemic peak in the coming months”However, analysts at Capital Economics want to believe. The pound fell 0.25% to $1.3833 against the dollar, but was up against the single European currency (+0.14% to 85.86 pence per euro).

On the crypto side, the very volatile bitcoin fell by 3.84% to $34,778.70.