U.S. Dollar Ends Roughly Flat Amid Easing Inflation Concerns After Crude Oil Slides

(RTTNews) - The U.S. Dollar value ended nearly flat on Thursday after crude oil prices tumbled and lowered inflation-related concerns following U.S. President Donald Trump's statement on Iran talks while investors continued to assess yesterday's interest rate hike decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Today, the U.S. Dollar Index DXY, which measures the Greenback against a basket of other major currencies, was last seen trading at 100.22, down by 0.04 (or 0.04%).

In the U.S., data from the U.S. Labor Department showed that for the second week of September, the number of people claiming unemployment benefits fell by 10,000 to 196,000. Continuing jobless claims decreased to 1,730,000 for the week ending September 5 from 1,769,000 of the previous week.

Against the Euro, the USD was trading at 1.148, down by 0.11%.

Against the GBP, the USD was trading at 1.336, up by 0.16%. The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee voted 6-3 to keep Bank Rate unchanged at 3.75% yesterday, a decision that came in line with market expectations.

Against the USD, the Japanese Yen was trading at 155.957, up by 0.18%, the Swiss Franc was trading at 0.825, up by 0.12%.

Against the USD, the Canadian Dollar was trading at 1.399, down by 0.03%. Data released by Statistics Canada today revealed that producer prices in Canada increased 1.30% month-on-month in August, accelerating from a downwardly revised 0.30% increase in July, contrasting with market expectations of a flat reading. On a year-on-year basis, the producer prices increased 12.40%.

Against one unit of Australian Dollar, the USD was trading at 0.711, down by 0.32%.

Yesterday, at the conclusion of its two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, in line with market forecasts, the U.S. Federal Reserve hiked its target interest-rate range by 25 basis point, bringing it to 3.75% to 4.00%. Of note, the decision was unanimous, with a 12-0 vote.

The U.S. dollar reached a seven-week high following the interest rate announcement.

The Fed cited persisting energy price increase and the recent stronger-than-expected inflation data to increase the rate. Notably, this is the first rate-hike in three years.

Speaking of the Fed's decision, Trump remarked that he still has confidence in Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh but maintained that he wants the central bank to slash interest rates to 1% "or less".

Trump went on to state that the board is very hostile, political, and doing the wrong thing.

Due to easing of supply disruption concerns that led to a slump in crude oil prices, with a rate-hike already factored in, gold prices gained.

Last week, Trump stated that the U.S. war with Iran will end soon after the November mid-term elections in the U.S.

Later, Trump claimed that Iran is badly seeking for talks with the U.S. but stated that his administration is not interested in negotiating with Iran. However, Iran dismissed Trump's claims.

On Monday, Trump stated that the U.S. is open to the concept of negotiations with Iran.

Today, Trump stated that the U.S. is hopefully towards the end of its war with Iran. He stressed that the U.S. heard from Iran directly that the nation wants a deal with the U.S.

Citing three sources, Axios reported that Trump is set to hold a meeting with several leaders from the Gulf Cooperation Council on Tuesday in New York to discuss the next steps in the U.S.-Iran war.

Reports indicated that Saudi Arabia is speeding up the repair works on its damaged East-West pipeline, which suffered drone attacks by Iran-linked Houthi militants.

All these developments eased crude oil supply-related concerns.