U.S. Dollar Slips As U.S.-Iran Standoff Continues While Trump Signals A Deal

(RTTNews) - The U.S. Dollar value ticked lower as inflationary pressures ease following a slump in crude oil prices while investor expectations on an end to the fresh U.S.-Iran conflict grows stronger with U.S. President Donald Trump hinting that Iran is seeking a deal with the U.S.

The U.S. Dollar Index, DXY, which measures the Greenback against a basket of other major currencies was last seen trading at 100.94, down by 0.08 (or 0.08%) today.

Today, the data released by the U.S. Labor Department revealed that the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the fell by 2,000 to 215,000 on the week to July 4, below expectations of a rise to 218,000 for the lowest count in six weeks. Continuing jobless claims increased to 1,814,000 for the week ending June 27.

Existing home sales fell by 2.40% from the previous month to a seasonally adjusted, annualized rate of 4.09 million units in June, firmly below expectations that they would hold steady at 4.20 million, according to the National Association of Realtors.

While against the Euro, the USD was trading at 1.143, down by 0.11%, against the GBP, the USD was trading at 1.341, down by 0.15%.

Against the USD, the Japanese Yen was trading at 162.396, up by 0.11%, the Swiss Franc was trading at 0.807, up by 0.07%; and the Canadian Dollar was trading at 1.417, up by 0.02%.

Against one unit of Australian Dollar, the USD was trading at 0.694, down by 0.16%.

After three separate incidents of projectile hits on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, U.S. military targeted more than 80 strategically important sites in Iran on Tuesday.

In retaliation, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps hit at U.S. bases in Kuwait and Bahrain.

In the sidelines of North Atlantic Treaty Organization's summit in Turkey, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that according to him, the U.S.-Iran interim agreement signed on June 17 to cease mutual attacks for 60 days is over. He also remarked that negotiating with Iran was a waste of time.

Despite stating this, Trump admitted that he has allowed the negotiations to continue.

Late Wednesday, U.S. Central Command announced carrying out a second wave of attacks on Iran on nearly 90 military targets.

Crude oil prices rebounded for the past two days to very high levels due to fresh inflationary concerns.

Today, while on Air Force One, Trump stated that Iran reached out to the U.S. seeking a deal badly. At the same time, Trump doubted Iran's readiness to honor an agreement.

However, Iran is yet to respond to Trump's claims, officially.

The possibility of a cessation of attacks led to easing of U.S. dollar value.

Further, experts observe that a high-interest rate environment could lead to demand decline and slow the growth in economy.

On the monetary front, the minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve's June month meeting was released yesterday.

Out of the 18 policymakers, nine expected at least one rate-hike before the year-end while eight forecasted no change to interest rates. Only one predicted a cut. The new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh did not submit any projection.

Currently, investors are betting on a 24.10% chance of a quarter-basis-point interest rate-hike in the upcoming meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve on July 28-29 while the bets on rates being held at the current 3.50% to 3.75% range stand at 75.90%, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool.