The typically quiet August trading period was jolted into life on Friday with the release of a much stronger-than-expected US nonfarm payrolls report.

Easing concerns surrounding the spread of the delta variant and a dovish set of communications from the Fed sent the US dollar lower against its peers last week.

The dollar traded lower against almost all of its major peers again on Thursday, putting it on course for its worst week since May, as investors continued to digest this week’s dovish comments from the Federal Reserve. The recent weakness in the dollar has pushed every other G10 currency higher in the past week, notably the pound.

Wednesday’s FOMC meeting was greeted with a bout of weakness in the US dollar, with the greenback trading lower against just about every other major currency.

In light of its significant impact on public health and the global economy, the COVID-19 pandemic has been the number one topic of interest for financial markets since early-2020.

Sterling popped higher versus its peers on Tuesday afternoon, in a move that defied the general flight from risk witnessed in the currency markets yesterday.

With not too much macroeconomic data on tap, focus in financial markets this week will be firmly on Wednesday evening’s Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting.

We expect another dovish assessment from the ECB on Thursday in light of both heightened virus concerns and the outcome of the bank’s strategic review.