Early on Thursday, the US dollar has weakened against its peers, especially the Euro and the Japanese yen, after President Donald Trump announced a travel ban between the US and Europe for a month in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus. At the time of writing, the US dollar index is trading around 96.24.

Trump made the announcement in the previous session, adding that travel to the UK was exempted, and that the travel restrictions would not impact the trade relationship between the US and Europe. The US dollar has been trading bearish lately over the severe slide seen in US equities, which has gone on to affect global stock markets as well.

The coronavirus has been officially classified as a global pandemic by the WHO after over 118,000 cases have been confirmed from more than 110 countries around the world, souring the market sentiment even further. In the wake of this and the continued increase in the number of confirmed cases, markets now anticipate the Fed to cut interest rates even further, all the way down to 0, exerting additional downward pressure on the US dollar.