London (awp/afp) – The dollar accentuates its fall against the euro on Monday, a consequence of the appointment on Friday of Scott Bessent as US Treasury Secretary, a figure perceived as moderate by the markets, likely to fight against the deficit budgetary.
Around 2:25 p.m. GMT (3:25 p.m. in Paris), the American currency dropped 0.93% against the euro, to $1.0517, and fell 0.47% against the pound, to $1.2590.
Former employee of billionaire George Soros, scarecrow of part of the Republicans, Scott Bessent, who then launched his own investment company, was appointed to the Treasury on Friday by Donald Trump.
Well known on Wall Street, “Bessent is seen as being in favor of growth and deficit reduction policies, and his appointment was positively received by the” stock markets, until now “worried about the scale of the American budget deficit and the inflationary impact of the new customs tariffs” promised, summarizes Kit Juckes, of Société Générale.
“Bessent's measured approach” places “the emphasis on economic stability and the gradual deployment of customs tariffs”, adds Joseph Dahrieh, of Tickmill.
This decision therefore acted as a “catalyst” for a fall in American bond yields, a rise in stock indices and a weaker dollar at the opening of the session, notes Mr. Juckes.
The greenback has benefited so far from the president-elect's program, which predicted a widening of the deficit and an acceleration of inflation in the United States, likely to delay rate cuts by the Federal Reserve (Fed).
The dollar's decline on Monday was more marked against the euro, against which it reached a two-year high last Friday due to disappointing activity in November in the euro zone.
Forex traders will remain attentive to the first estimate of euro zone inflation for the month of November published on Friday. At this stage, they expect the European Central Bank's (ECB) key rate to be cut by half a percentage point at its December meeting.
Before that, on Wednesday, the “minutes” of the last monetary meeting of the Fed earlier this month, the PCE inflation index for October and growth in the third quarter in the United States are expected.
For its part, bitcoin continues to play on the nerves of investors by coming close to the $100,000 level, in the wake of the election of a resolutely pro-crypto American president.
After rising to $99,728.36 on Friday, it fell slightly on Monday around 2:25 p.m. GMT to $97,234.50.
Cours de lundi Cours de vendredi 14H25 GMT 22H00 GMT EUR/USD 1,0517 1,0418 EUR/JPY 161,77 161,24 EUR/CHF 0,9330 0,9312 EUR/GBP 0,8353 0,8314 USD/JPY 153,83 154,78 USD/CHF 0,8872 0,8939 GBP/USD 1,2590 1,2530
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