The dollar continued to weaken against the euro on Tuesday and fell to its lowest level in three weeks. In return, the euro gained to $ 1.1847. In late trading, however, the euro gave up most of its gains and stood at $ 1.1806. The reluctance of the US Federal Reserve to cut back on securities purchases (tapering) is putting the US currency under pressure. Investors are therefore eagerly awaiting data from the US labor market on Friday in order to receive further information on the scope and start of tapering. On the crude oil market, nervousness grew before the major exporting countries began to discuss production quotas. US light oil WTI fell one percent to $ 68.51 per barrel. According to insiders, the country group Opec + does not want to follow the US appeal for a stronger expansion of production and increase the quotas by 400,000 barrels per day as planned. US President Joe Biden had campaigned for a significant increase in quotas in order to depress gasoline prices and thereby stimulate the global economy. In addition, fears of weakening demand from refineries due to power outages and floods in the US state of Louisiana after Hurricane Ida put oil prices under pressure.
An indication of a possible reduction in pandemic aid from the European Central Bank (ECB) has not been well received by investors. The President of the Austrian National Bank, Robert Holzmann, brought a reduction in the corona pandemic aid from the ECB into play. As a result, investors parted with government bonds. Accordingly, the yield on ten-year paper rose to minus 0.393 percent, the highest level in a month. The ECB is buying securities for a total of up to 1.85 trillion euros in order to cushion the negative consequences of the pandemic.