The single currency lost 0.13% against the US currency, at 0.9596 dollars for one euro, close to the 20-year low recorded overnight from Sunday to Monday, at 0.9554 dollars.
The euro fell again on Tuesday against the dollar, a breath away from its 20-year high, unbalanced by concerns over the Nord Stream gas pipeline, while several other currencies also reached levels not seen in years against the greenback.
The single currency yielded 0.13% against the “greenback”, one of the nicknames of the dollar, at 0.9596 dollars for one euro, close to the 20-year low recorded overnight from Sunday to Monday, at 0.9554 dollars.
The common currency of 19 European countries will only have benefited briefly from a timid attempt to rebound in the equity and bond markets, which was quickly cut off in its tracks.
“The euro is facing additional difficulties with this natural gas situation,” said Brad Bechtel of Jefferies. “Nobody knows what’s going on with these gas pipelines.”
The two gas pipelines Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, currently out of service, which provide most of Europe’s supplies of Russian gas, suffered three major leaks, preceded by explosions.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Tuesday that the incidents were linked to “deliberate acts”.
This latest development comes on top of the energy crisis already gripping the continent and threatening to dampen the eurozone economy.
Faced with this situation, several European countries, including France and Germany, have announced or are preparing measures to limit the effects of soaring energy prices on consumers and businesses, by means of increased public spending .
For Brad Bechtel, the euro will “very likely” continue to fall against the dollar, and the euro zone risks “falling into the same trap as the United Kingdom, namely making budgetary promises without having the means to finance them “.
Among the members of the euro zone, Italy has been the focus of attention since the electoral success on Sunday of the alliance formed around the leader of the post-fascist party Fratelli d’Italia, Girogia Meloni.
The latter, provided that it manages to form a government, intends to renegotiate the European support plan from which Italy has already received several tranches, but which still provides for an envelope of nearly 200 billion euros.
On Tuesday, the yield on 10-year Italian government bonds continued to climb to 4.77%, a first in nine years. The gap between this rate and its equivalent for Germany is at its highest for almost two months.
The picture could still darken with the publication on Friday of the eurozone price index for September, expected close to 10% over one year, against 9.1% in August.
The euro is not the only currency in difficulty against the dollar. If the pound managed to rebound after its all-time low from Sunday night to Monday, the Polish zloty and the Hungarian forint fell to an unprecedented level against the dollar on Tuesday.