U.S. Dollar Ticks Higher As U.S., Iran Set To Return To Negotiations After Recent Standoff

(RTTNews) - The U.S. Dollar value inched higher as backchannel communications and mediatory efforts to bring back the U.S. and Iran to negotiations table gain pace following their recent faceoff while uneasy calmness prevails in the Middle East.

The U.S. Dollar Index, DXY, which measures the Greenback against a basket of other major currencies was last seen trading at 100.98, down by 0.07 (or 0.07%) today.

While against the Euro, the USD was trading at 1.141, up by 0.15%, against the GBP, the USD was trading at 1.339, up by 0.09%.

Against the USD, the Japanese Yen was trading at 161.749, up by 0.37%, the Swiss Franc was trading at 0.808, down by 0.35%.

Against the USD, the Canadian Dollar was trading at 1.415, up by 0.07%.

Data released by Statistics Canada today revealed that the unemployment rate in Canada eased to 6.50% in June from 6.60% in the previous month, below market expectations that it would remain unchanged and tying for the lowest since July 2024. The net employment rose by 18,000 positions in June to 21,139,700, supported by part-time positions and unemployment fell by 13,200 to 1,469,200. In contrast, manufacturing employment fell by 17,000, reversing much of May's 15,000 increase.

Against one unit of Australian Dollar, the USD was trading at 0.695, down by 0.18%.

After three incidents involving 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 and nearly 90 targets on Wednesday.

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

After first observing that the U.S.-Iran interim agreement signed on June 17 to cease mutual attacks for 60 days is over, U.S. President Donald Trump admitted that he has allowed the negotiations to continue.

Yesterday, Trump stated that Iran reached out to the U.S., seeking a deal badly.

Today, via Truth Social, he once again stated that Iran asked the U.S. to continue with the negotiations and added that the U.S. has agreed to it.

Axios reported that officials from Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia conducted multiple phone calls on Wednesday and Thursday with the U.S. as well as Iranian officials.

Axios also cited a diplomat as stating that both sides want to come back to the MoU.

Reuters reported that a Qatari team is in Iran to facilitate the next round of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran and de-escalate the tensions.

The possibility of cessation of attacks weighed on the U.S. dollar value.

On Wednesday, the minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's June month meeting revealed that out of the 18 policymakers, nine expected at least one rate-hike before the year-end.

While eight forecasted no change to interest rates, one predicted a cut.

Today, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool, investors are betting on a 33.70% 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 66.30%.