The dollar was preparing Friday to end its eighth consecutive week of decline against the euro, as the gloomy economic outlook for the United States weighed on the greenback.

Around 19:30 GMT (21:30 in Paris), the euro gained 0.18% against the US currency, to 1.1835 dollar. It has gained 0.41% since last Friday.

Since its low of the year at the end of March, the European single currency has climbed more than 11% against the greenback.

On Friday, foreign exchange traders took note of mixed figures on retail sales in the United States in July, published by the Department of Commerce.

These have certainly increased by 1.2% compared to June, but the pace is less sustained than in the previous two months and the increase is less important than expected.

U.S. consumer confidence was little changed in July (+0.3 points), according to the preliminary index of the University of Michigan.

On Thursday, investors took note of weekly employment data.

Some 963,000 people registered as unemployed in the United States between August 2 and 8, down from 1.19 million the previous week and from the 1.15 million expected by analysts.

It is "still very high but it shows a gradual recovery of the job market in the United States," reassured Ipek Ozkardeskaya, analyst for Swissquote Bank.

But the dollar continued to suffer on Friday from the lack of agreement between Democrats and Republicans on a new stimulus package.

The White House and Democratic congressmen have been discussing in vain for more than two weeks additional relief measures for households, businesses and local authorities hit by the pandemic crisis.

Faced with the failure of negotiations, President Donald Trump on Saturday signed four executive orders, including one temporarily granting $400 a week to the unemployed, instead of the $600 a week they had been receiving since April. This aid, intended to deal with the crisis, came to an end on 31 July.

                        Friday Classes Thursday Classes
                         19H30 GMT 21H00 GMT
 
EUR/USD 1.1835 1.1814

EUR/JPY 126.16 126.32

EUR/CHF 1.0764 1.0747

EUR/GBP 0.9043 0.9041

USD/JPY 106.60 106.93

USD/CHF 0.9095 0.9097

GBP/USD 1.3087 1.3067