U.S. Dollar Ended Nearly Flat Amid Uncertainty Surrounding U.S. Moves To Resolve Iran Conflict

(RTTNews) - The U.S. Dollar value changed a little on Thursday, as investors assessed the possible measures the U.S. administration could adopt to end the Iran crisis as oil-linked inflation is attributed to be the prime reason for setback to Republican party in the just concluded mid-term elections.

Today, the U.S. Dollar Index DXY, which measures the Greenback against a basket of other major currencies, was last seen trading at 101.59, up by 0.03 (or 0.03%).

While against the Euro, the USD was trading at 1.122, up by 0.10%, against the GBP, the USD was trading at 1.345, up by 0.17%.

Against the USD, the Japanese Yen was trading at 157.711, up by 0.44%, the Swiss Franc was trading at 0.817, up by 0.03%; and the Canadian Dollar was trading at 1.402, down by 0.31%.

Against one unit of Australian Dollar, the USD was trading at 0.693, up by 1.10%.

The U.S. mid-term election results announced yesterday revealed a landslide victory for Democrats in both houses of the U.S. Congress.

Democrats gained 54 seats in the Senate and 225 seats in the House of Representatives.

After initially stating that his absence in the Ballot was the reasons for the poor show, later U.S. President Donald Trump admitted that partly Iran war led to the widespread poor performance of the ruling party.

Even more candidly, U.S. Vice President JD Vance admitted that the war with Iran led to the the setback for Republican party.

Traders are of the view that if Trump proceeds to resolve the conflict with Iran through diplomacy, Iran could possibly raise its demands.

On the contrary, if Trump persists with his economic blockade and economic sanctions against Iran, Iran could keep the Strait of Hormuz closed for several weeks.

Lastly, if Trump goes ahead with a military operation, then Iran will retaliate in which case, normal shipping traffic will return through the Strait of Hormuz only when the war ends.

Al Jazeera reported that Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held separate talks with his counterparts in Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia as Iran anticipates fresh attacks by the U.S.

Currently, investors are betting on a 68.70% chance of a 25-basis-point interest rate hike at the upcoming meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve on December 8-9 while the odds on the rates being held at the current level stand at 31.30%, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool.

The victory by Democrats is also seen as a source of strength for Fed's independence. Democrats have now gained significant leverage in appointing Fed's senior board officials and can resist Trump's attempts to install his allies.

In the U.S., the data provided by Challenger, Gray, and Christmas Inc. revealed that US-based employers instituted 43,994 job cuts in October, up 2.00% from 43,281 cuts in September, but down 71.00% from last year.

Data from the U.S. Labor Department showed that for the week ending October 31, the initial claims for unemployment benefits decreased by 6,000 to 189,000 from the previous period, below market expectations of 196,000 and down from a revised 195,000 of the previous week.

For the week ending October 24, the continuing jobless claims increased to 1,718,000 from 1,695,000 of the previous week and compared to forecasts of 1,710,000 thousand.

Investors are looking forward to the upcoming jobs report on Friday to gather more insights on the status of the labor market.