The US dollar rose against most of its peers on Monday, but pared some of today's gains as the market continues to focus on the latest updates about the coronavirus crisis.
The British health authorities identified a new coronavirus strain that spreads more quickly, which forced London to impose tighter lockdown restrictions, and led many countries to suspend flights from the United Kingdom.
This came despite the start of more vaccination campaigns by several countries, including Britain and Canada starting to use the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced the congressional leaders agreed with White House on a $900 billion second relief package.
Mnuchin added that the new stimulus package will include $600 checks to be sent to families across the country starting next week.
The dollar index rose against a basket of major currencies by 0.1% to 90.1 points as of 18:43 GMT, after hitting a high of 91.02 points and a low of 89.9 points.