Forex Today: US Dollar sags to two-month lows as Middle East risk lifts Oil and Gold

Agustin Wazne FXStreet

Here is what you need to know on Tuesday, August 18:

The US Dollar Index (DXY) starts the week on the back foot, with the US Dollar Index (DXY) slipping toward two-month lows and holding below the 100.00 mark. August's run of underwhelming US data jobs, inflation and retail sales has steadily trimmed bets on a Federal Reserve (Fed) move next month.

On another note, a senior Iranian official said Tehran is shifting to a "fully offensive" stance and warned of escalation in the Strait of Hormuz if diplomacy fails, sending Crude more than 2% higher and keeping a firm bid under Gold as the new week gets underway.

US Dollar Price Today

The table below shows the percentage change of US Dollar (USD) against listed major currencies today. US Dollar was the strongest against the Japanese Yen.

	USD	EUR	GBP	JPY	CAD	AUD	NZD	CHF
USD		-0.08%	-0.05%	0.10%	0.00%	-0.29%	-0.20%	-0.30%
EUR	0.08%		0.00%	0.17%	0.08%	-0.21%	-0.13%	-0.22%
GBP	0.05%	-0.00%		0.15%	0.06%	-0.17%	-0.14%	-0.22%
JPY	-0.10%	-0.17%	-0.15%		-0.09%	-0.39%	-0.29%	-0.37%
CAD	-0.00%	-0.08%	-0.06%	0.09%		-0.29%	-0.20%	-0.29%
AUD	0.29%	0.21%	0.17%	0.39%	0.29%		0.08%	-0.05%
NZD	0.20%	0.13%	0.14%	0.29%	0.20%	-0.08%		-0.10%
CHF	0.30%	0.22%	0.22%	0.37%	0.29%	0.05%	0.10%

The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the US Dollar from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the Japanese Yen, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent USD (base)/JPY (quote).

EUR/USD holds onto gains near the 1.1580 mark after retreating from two-month highs near1.1614 as the softer Greenback underpins the pair.

GBP/USD clings to gains in the mid-1.3500s, holding close to three-month highs ahead of Tuesday's UK jobs report.

USD/JPY treads water in the 159.00 region after a soft Japanese second-quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) print that markets looked past.

AUD/USD trades firm in the low-0.7100s, leading the majors despite weekend data showing Chinese Industrial Production and Retail Sales both slowing.

Gold has extended its rally back above the $4,400 mark, helped by the weaker Dollar and rising Middle East tensions.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Oil jumps toward the $84.00 per barrel area as fresh Iranian escalation threats lift the geopolitical risk premium.

The Asian session opens on Tuesday with Australia's Westpac Consumer Confidence, before the European session brings the main event, the UK labor market report. The Bank of England (BoE) watches Average Earnings most closely, with the ILO Unemployment Rate expected to edge down. ZEW sentiment surveys from Germany and the Eurozone follow, alongside a scheduled speech from the European Central Bank's (ECB) Philip Lane.

The US session then takes over with Building Permits, Housing Starts, Industrial Production and Pending Home Sales, offering a fresh read on the world's largest economy. New Zealand's second-quarter Producer Price Index (PPI) closes out the session late in the day.

Author

Agustin Wazne

FXStreet

Agustin Wazne joined FXStreet as a Junior News Editor, focusing on Commodities and covering Majors.

GBP/USD clings to daily gains near 1.3550

GBP/USD adds to Friday’s advance, briefly hitting three-month tops near 1.3570 before edging lower on Monday. Fading expectations of a Fed rate hike in September weigh on the Greenback, helping Cable to keep its bullish momentum ahead of the release of the UK jobs report on Tuesday.

EUR/USD: Gains appear capped by 1.1600

EUR/USD consolidates its daily gains well north of the 1.1500 hurdle following the closing bell on Wall Street on Monday. The pair’s multi-day bounce comes on the back of renewed selling pressure on the US Dollar investors continue to trim bets of Fed rate hikes. Moving forward, Germany’s ZEW prints are due on Tuesday alongside a slew of US hard data.

Gold loses some traction, still above $4,400

Gold faces some loss of momentum and slips back toward the vicinity of the $4,400 mark per troy ounce on Monday. The yellow metal adds to Friday’s uptick and its positive performance follows the steady offered stance in the US Dollar amid dwindling bets for further tightening by the Fed in the next few months.

Strategy pauses Bitcoin sales, increases USD Reserve to $4.8 billion

Bitcoin (BTC) treasury firm Strategy (MSTR) increased its USD Reserve to $4.8 billion after raising $333.7 million through common stock sales, while also repurchasing $132.2 million of its STRC preferred shares, according to a Form 8-K filing on Monday. Strategy sold 3.458 million shares of its Class A common stock, MSTR, last week, generating $333.7 million in net proceeds.

Economists agree: Fed to leave interest rates unchanged this year – Reuters poll

A large majority of economists expect the Federal Reserve (Fed) to keep interest rates unchanged in September and for the rest of this year, according to a Reuters poll conducted between August 12 and 17.

Why is Crude Oil priced for a reopening the ships haven't made?

Fourteen vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday. Before the war, the count ran near 120 a day. In the sessions since the waterway was publicly declared open, Brent has drifted back to $87 and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) to $81, both a little lower again on Wednesday, with daily momentum on each unwound from the top of its range in late July to the low twenties now.