WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The U.S. Dollar value ticked lower after crude oil prices plummeted with war concerns easing following reports of U.S. preparing to send U.S. diplomats back to embassies in the Middle East countries, lowering inflation concerns. In addition, the July new home sales numbers and consumer confidence index came in weaker than expected.
Today, the U.S. Dollar Index DXY which measures the Greenback against a basket of other major currencies was last seen trading at 98.90, down by 0.06 (or 0.06%).
While against the Euro, the USD was trading at 1.168, down by 0.10%, against the GBP, the USD was trading at 1.365, down by 0.14%.
Against the USD, the Japanese Yen was trading at 159.208, down by 0.08%, the Swiss Franc was trading at 0.801, up by 0.12%; and the Canadian Dollar was trading at 1.384, up by 0.05%.
Against one unit of Australian Dollar, the USD was trading at 0.717, down by 0.22%.
On the economic front, the U.S. Automatic Data Processing data revealed that private employers added an average of 11,750 jobs per week in the four weeks ending August 8, up from 9,500 for the previous four-week period.
Data released by the U.S. Census Bureau revealed that on a month-on-month basis, new home sales decreased to 10.50% in July.
The U.S. consumer sentiment lost momentum mildly in August as the Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index receded to 89.40 from July's 90.20 (revised from 90.80).
Yesterday, the U.S. administration unveiled a large economic blockade on Iran which included big-scale sanctions aimed to cut off almost all funding sources for Iran.
While announcing these measures, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also warned that any other country providing any sort of lifeline to Iran would suffer a similar fate.
Investors view the latest moves by the U.S. as a tilt from its previous stance. The U.S. is now adopting economic measures to coerce Iran to agree to its terms rather than embarking on military maneuvers.
The shift in stance has eased near-term war threat in the Middle East, lowering inflation concerns leading to a plunge in crude oil prices.
However, the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. The U.S. claimed that ships are transiting through the seaway aided by U.S. naval forces without any event.
Further, according to a New York Times report, the U.S. State Department is readying to send the U.S. diplomats back to the embassies in the Middle Eastern countries, again suggesting that the U.S. is not planning to renew its earlier aggressive offensives.
After his Iran visit, Pakistan's Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi stated that Iran made 'significant progress' in talks on the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and prospects for peace.
With this, the U.S. dollar shed some safe-haven demand.
Today, the Boston Federal Reserve President Susan Collins stated that it would be better to tighten the monetary policy soon if evidence of sustained inflation progress does not materialize.
Collins admitted that she was comfortable with the July month's decision by the U.S. Federal Reserve to hold the interest rates but she wanted continued evidence to leave it there.
The upcoming three-day Jackson Hole Symposium set to kick-off on Thursday at Wyoming is now drawing investors' attention where the U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh is slated to deliver his keynote address on Friday.
Traders are awaiting to derive clues on Fed's monetary policy path amid recent geopolitical developments.
Currently, investors are betting on a 34.40% chance of a 25-basis-point interest rate-hike at its upcoming meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve on September 15-16 while the odds on rates being held at the current level stand at 65.60%, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool.
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