EUR / USD has updated lows since early July 2020.

ECB President Lagarde has confirmed that the regulator will not raise rates in 2022.

The dollar index on Friday again approached 16-month highs above 96.2.

Austria became the first European country to return tough restrictive measures due to the outbreak of COVID-19, which has reached unprecedented levels since the beginning of the pandemic - more than 15 thousand new cases per day, writes finanz.

The unvaccinated in the country are already prohibited from leaving their homes, except for important reasons. Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg announced at a press conference on Friday that these isolation measures would be introduced across the country from Monday. The isolation will last for a maximum of 20 days. In Austria, vaccinations will become mandatory from 1 February.

Similar measures are being considered by the German authorities, where the number of cases is growing exponentially, and is also breaking records of previous waves. Anti-COVID-19 records were recorded in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Norway.

ECB President Christine Lagarde on Friday confirmed that “the conditions for the rate hike are unlikely to be met next year,” writes ProFinance.

Lagarde spoke at the Frankfurt European Banking Congress, where she warned that the ECB "should not rush to prematurely tighten" monetary policy in response to the current surge in inflation.

Unlike Lagarde, Fed spokesman Waller said Friday that it would be a good idea for the Fed to announce an acceleration of the asset repurchase phase at its December meeting.

According to UBS, the dollar in 2022 could benefit from a curtailment of the Fed's asset purchase program, a decrease in the volume of fiscal stimulus in the United States and a slowdown in the global economy.

According to Capital Economics, the risk of a more stable dollar strengthening is growing due to the prospect of a Fed rate hike next year and increased flows to safe currencies.