{"id":127543,"date":"2026-05-22T16:50:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T12:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/?p=127543"},"modified":"2026-05-22T18:24:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T14:24:19","slug":"dollar-holds-near-6-week-high-as-iran-peace-talks-keep-fx-markets-in-limbo-pound-dragged-by-retail-sales-slump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/dollar-holds-near-6-week-high-as-iran-peace-talks-keep-fx-markets-in-limbo-pound-dragged-by-retail-sales-slump\/05\/22\/market-updates\/","title":{"rendered":"Dollar Holds Near 6-Week High as Iran Peace Talks Keep FX Markets in Limbo: Pound Dragged by Retail Sales Slump"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><\/h1>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Takeaways<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Dollar steady:<\/strong> The DXY held mostly unchanged at 99.30, remaining near a six-week high.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Euro slips:<\/strong> EUR\/USD fell 0.2% to $1.1599, while the British pound dropped 0.1% to $1.3424.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>UK retail sales drag:<\/strong> The pound was weighed down by UK retail sales declining by the most in almost a year in April as shoppers battled elevated prices.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Dollar well above pre-war levels:<\/strong> Safe-haven appeal and U.S. energy exporter status continue to underpin the greenback.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Inflation fears drive rate hike bets:<\/strong> Central banks worldwide may need to lift rates in response to the Iran-driven energy shock.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Yen under pressure:<\/strong> A firming dollar and elevated oil have weighed heavily on Japan&#8217;s currency, with reports suggesting authorities intervened recently.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Indonesia acts:<\/strong> Officials ordered all natural resource exporters to store export revenues in state banks from June 1 to support the struggling rupiah.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>ING&#8217;s read:<\/strong> &#8220;The FX market is relatively calm and being gently bounced around by headlines out of Iran.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Pakistan diplomacy active:<\/strong> Iran&#8217;s FM met Pakistan&#8217;s interior minister to bridge gaps in peace proposals Friday.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Gaps narrowing:<\/strong> A senior Iranian official told Reuters differences in talks have shrunk.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Rubio&#8217;s cautious optimism:<\/strong> &#8220;Good signs&#8221; but waiting to &#8220;see what happens over the next few days.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Uranium report disputed:<\/strong> The White House called the Reuters uranium directive report false.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Hormuz toll rejected:<\/strong> Trump opposes Iran and Oman&#8217;s plan to establish Hormuz transit fees.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Strait still shuttered:<\/strong> The conduit handling a fifth of global oil remains effectively closed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The U.S. dollar held steady near a six-week high on Friday, as traders assessed a series of reports on peace talks to end the more than two-month-old war in Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By 06:21 ET (10:21 GMT), the U.S. dollar index \u2014 which tracks the greenback against a basket of currency peers \u2014 was mostly unchanged at 99.30. The euro dipped 0.2% versus the dollar to $1.1599, while the British pound fell 0.1% to $1.3424 \u2014 dragged down by data showing UK retail sales declined by the most in almost a year in April as shoppers battled elevated prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The dollar remains well above pre-war levels, buoyed in part by the belief that the currency has been a relative safe haven during the crisis. Further burnishing its appeal has been the view among some analysts that the U.S. economy \u2014 as a major energy exporter \u2014 may be insulated from an oil price spike brought on by the conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Worries have abounded that an Iran-related energy shock could spark a wave of inflation around the world that may lead many central banks to lift interest rates in response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Yen and Emerging Markets Feel the Squeeze<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A firming dollar and elevated oil prices have weighed on the yen in particular, with media reports suggesting that Japanese authorities likely recently intervened to support the currency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Other currencies in emerging markets are also under pressure, including in Indonesia, where officials announced that all exporters of natural resources must store all of their export revenues in state-owned banks from June 1 \u2014 a move to help prop up the struggling rupiah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">FX Market &#8220;Gently Bounced Around by Iran Headlines&#8221;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Much of the attention now centers around diplomatic efforts to forge a peace deal, though messaging from both Washington and Tehran has been mixed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;The [foreign exchange] market is relatively calm and being gently bounced around by headlines out of Iran,&#8221; analysts at ING said in a research note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Iran&#8217;s foreign minister met with the interior minister of Pakistan on Friday, with discussions focused on bridging key divides between the U.S. and Tehran over peace proposals, Iranian media reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The gathering comes two days after Pakistan presented Iran with the latest U.S. message in the negotiations, Reuters reported, citing the semi-official Tasnim and ISNA news agencies. Islamabad has frequently acted as a mediator between Washington and Tehran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to ISNA, Pakistan&#8217;s Interior Minister Syed Mohsin Naqvi is attempting to forge a framework for ending the war and resolving differences between both sides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said discussions have shown &#8220;good signs&#8221; of progress, although he flagged that he did not want to be &#8220;overly optimistic&#8221; and was waiting to &#8220;see what happens over the next few days.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, a senior Iranian official quoted by Reuters said that gaps in negotiations have narrowed. However, a major fault line emerged on Thursday when the news agency reported that Iran&#8217;s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei had issued a directive that no enriched uranium should leave the country \u2014 hardening Tehran&#8217;s stance against one of President Donald Trump&#8217;s major demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The White House pushed back against the report, describing it as false, Fox News reported, citing a person directly involved in the negotiations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Washington and Iran are now locked in a protracted ceasefire that has lasted longer than the initial phase of bombardments which began in late February. The U.S. and Israel launched a joint assault on Iran, sparking a wave of attacks that spread to other areas of the Middle East, including major energy-producing Gulf nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Questions are also swirling around the status of the Strait of Hormuz, with Trump opposing efforts by Iran and Oman to establish a toll system for traversing the narrow conduit through which roughly a fifth of the world&#8217;s oil transits. Crucially, the strait remains all but closed to tanker traffic \u2014 keeping upward pressure on oil prices and fueling worries over a wave of inflation worldwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Key Takeaways Dollar steady: The DXY held mostly unchanged at 99.30, remaining near a six-week high. Euro slips: EUR\/USD fell 0.2% to $1.1599, while the British pound dropped 0.1% to $1.3424. UK retail sales drag: The pound was weighed down by UK retail sales declining by the most in almost a year in April as &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":127130,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6827,49,37,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-127543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-daily-economic-reports","category-economic-reports","category-forex-markets","category-market-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127543"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":127544,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127543\/revisions\/127544"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noortrends.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}