The weakness in the US dollar persists into a brand new trading week even as the rate of decline has eased slightly, but markets continue to worry about the mounting uncertainty that the coronavirus pandemic continues to drive across the world. At the time of writing, the US dollar index DXY is trading around 98.64.

Unlike other currencies, investors continue to keep the US dollar in favor as a safe haven currency amid worries of a possible economic recession which has driven investors to turn more cautious about their next moves. Conditions continue to worsen globally, with the US having overtaken China as the country with the most number of coronavirus cases.

The continued spike in the number of cases and death toll has had President Donald Trump extend restrictions till at least the end of next month, revising his previous suggestion of resuming normalcy from Easter instead. Meanwhile, other countries have also enforced tighter lockdown measures to get a grip on the number of infections.

For now, markets continue to focus of the risk-off sentiment due to coronavirus, with safe have instruments like the Japanese yen, gold and bonds experiencing slightly higher demand. This sentiment is supporting the US dollar as well.