On Tuesday morning US trading both the dollar and the pound of sterling reversed its losses. The euro was able to hit $1.3063, but at the same time it reached its lowest in seven weeks against the Japanese Yen, selling at Y124.38.
The pound of sterling hit its highs versus the American dollar, trading at $1.4685. The pound was supported by the government report of sales volumes of British retailers, which in April jumped for the first time since January 2008 to unexpectedly high level.
The major current concern of the markets now is the risk aversion regarding the swine flu epidemic and its spreading in the middle of the financial crisis around the world. Markets fear that the situation will be similar to that in 2003, when SARS hit and seriously affected different areas of global trade.
As for now, due to the swine flu, some countries already imposed bans on different products, imported from infected countries. The travel industry is already suffering heavily, and will definitely suffer even more.
Canadian dollar is another currency which is very likely to be hit by the spreading of the swine flu concerns, as well as the New Zealand and the Australian dollars, where there are already cases of swine flu were revealed.