Forex - Dollar Edges Lower; Lira Under Pressure

The U.S. dollar drifted sideways in early trading in Europe on Friday, amid signs of increasing risk appetite in Europe as investors looked for the end of the coronavirus outbreak.
At 3:35 AM ET (0735 GMT), the U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, stood at 100.17, up 0.1%, while EUR/USD rose 0.1% to 1.0840 and GBP/USD fell 0.1% to 1.2445. USD/JPY fell 0.2% to 107.72.
Overnight U.S. President Donald Trump laid out new guidelines for the reopening of the U.S. economy, backing down markedly from claims earlier in the week that he could dictate terms to state governors. The guidelines contained no hard dates for any reopening measures.
Risk sentiment also received a boost from Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ:GILD) announcing overnight that clinical trials of its antiviral drug remdesivir showed promising results in treating the COVID-19 virus.
That said, the dollar remains in elevated territory: after all, a safe haven must remain in demand after Thursday’s latest jobless claims figures showed that over 22 million Americans had applied for unemployment benefits over the last month.
It’s against the emerging markets’ currencies that the U.S. dollar is really showing its strength, with the IMF’s prediction that the world economy would contract the most since the Great Depression pressurizing those countries which rely on external financing.