By Gina Lee

Investing.com – The dollar was down on Thursday morning in Asia as optimism about the global economic outlook whetted investors’ risk appetite. The rapid and continuous spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant is a problem.

This chart tracks the greenback’s performance against other currencies and fell 0.3% to 96.028 at 11:09 PM ET (04:09 GMT).

This pair climbed 0.02% to 114.13.

In comparison, the pair dropped 0.1% to 0.72206. The pair increased 0.03% by 0.6808.

While the pair rose 0.02% to 6.3707, they remained stable at 1.3348.

After being rattled by omicron’s spread and ensuing government restrictions earlier in the week, risk sentiment has improved. South African research showed that patients receiving the omicron-based variant had lower risks of serious disease and hospitalization than the patients receiving the delta variant.

This also contributes to a better mood Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:) COVID-19 antiviral treatment, Paxlovid from the U.S Food and Drug Administration, Wednesday.

On the data front, Wednesday’s data from the U.S. showed that the grew 2.3% quarter-on-quarter in the third quarter of 2021. were at 6.46 million for November and the was at 115.8 for December.

Later in the day more data will be available, including the following:,,., and the. The data also contains and, along with the University of Michigan Indexes.

The central banks have been tightening their monetary policies, and the U.S. Federal Reserve adopted a more hawkish tone during its most recent policy meeting.

“Ongoing data strength should help bolster Fed pricing, particularly amid reports that omicron appears to be leading to fewer hospitalizations,” TD Securities analysts said in a report.

Last week, the Bank of England increased its interest rate by 0.2% in its latest policy announcement. However, the surprise move has “offered only some time-limited support to the pound, but the fast spread of the omicron in the U.K. may keep some pressure on the pound around Christmas, in particular as the government may opt to impose some new restrictions,” ING said in a recent note.