Dollar Folds into Holiday Weekend as Federal Reserve Fights to Save Crumbling Labour Market 

The Dollar fell broadly on Friday, folding a strong earlier hand as the Federal Reserve (Fed) pounced on a crumbling labour market in an apparent effort to save the hard-won job gains of recent years from the coronavirus and resulting shutdown, which claimed another six million livelihoods this week.

The Pound-Dollar rate extended this week's rebound off earlier lows Wednesday but the outlook for it appears to be darkening as a range of forecasters tip trouble ahead for the British exchange rate while a 'death cross' further vanadalises an already bearish picture on the charts.

The Dollar suffered heavy losses against all major rivals Tuesday as investors serenaded an ongoing decline in the number of new coronavirus cases across some major economies which, if sustained, could produce a much steeper and more protracted depreciation of the U.S. currency in the months ahead.

The Pound-Dollar rate handed back some of its earlier gains last week but is in a good position to recover lost ground in the coming days, with the 200-day moving average near 1.2660 said to be a possibility, although risk appetite will be key to the trajectory of the exchange rate this week. 

U.S. labour market data came in at a level far worse than market participants had been expecting, but this in itself should come as no surprise given the gravity and unprecedented nature of the current economic crisis.

The Dollar is the best-performing major currency of the past month thanks to a deteriorating global economic outlook linked to ongoing lockdowns aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus, and until a convincing medical solution to the outbreak is found further gains are likely.

The Pound-to-Dollar rate was nearing the end of a 'dead cat bounce' Tuesday as momentum ebbed from the market, leaving Sterling vulnerable to a return to the 1985 lows seen earlier in March. 

"The unfolding global contraction is poised to supplant the Great Financial Crisis (GFC) as the new benchmark for extreme economic disruption – the current collapse in economic activity is much deeper" - JP Morgan.