The dollar weakened Thursday against other major currencies, weighed down by renewed optimism in the markets.

Around 8:50 a.m. (10:50 a.m. CET), the euro thus gained 0.44% against the greenback, at 1.1301 dollars.

The dollar is "once again undermined by renewed optimism about the prospects for global recoveries," said MUFG analyst Lee Hardman.

As a safe haven, the greenback tends to retreat when confidence dominates the markets.

The week was dominated by better-than-expected indicators and, according to Bloomberg, the "economic surprise" index, which measures the gap between expectations and actual data, hasn't been this high since early 2018.

"This clearly underscores that analysts have been overly pessimistic," Hardman continued.

Among the good surprises of the week: the recovery of the American manufacturing industry, the improvement of the confidence of the American consumers, the retail sales in Germany as well as employment data.

Later in the day, investors will take note of the monthly report on American employment, after the firm ADP, whose figures are considered less reliable, reported on Wednesday that 2.4 million jobs were created in June.

Another source of optimism mentioned by several analysts: the hope of a vaccine against Covid-19.

The German company BioNTech and the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer announced on Wednesday positive preliminary results for their joint vaccine project.

These results are all the more scrutinized as the pandemic continues to worsen in the world, with a record number of daily cases in the United States.