{"id":43667,"date":"2026-03-30T01:43:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T01:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/uncategorized\/43667\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T01:43:16","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T01:43:16","slug":"amid-middle-east-conflict-fears-usd-cad-rises-for-a-sixth-session-nearing-1-3900-a-two-month-high","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/live-updates\/43667\/","title":{"rendered":"Amid Middle East conflict fears, USD\/CAD rises for a sixth session, nearing 1.3900, a two-month high"},"content":{"rendered":"USD\/CAD rose for a sixth straight session on Monday, reaching near 1.3900 in Asian trading and the highest level in over two months. The move came as concern about a wider Middle East war lifted demand for the US Dollar.\n\nThe US Dollar Index was up 0.13% at about 100.35. S&P 500 futures were down 0.5% in Asian trading, pointing to a risk-off mood.\n\n

Middle East Escalation And Dollar Demand<\/h3>\nThe Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that the US Pentagon is sending 10,000 additional troops to Iran. Iranian Brigadier General Ebrahim Zolfaqari said on state TV that \u201cUS troops will be good food for sharks of the Persian Gulf\u201d, and BBC reported Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Iran would \u201crain fire\u201d on any US troops entering Iran.\n\nMarkets are watching US data this week, including Nonfarm Payrolls, which can affect expectations for Federal Reserve policy. On 18 March, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said labour demand has \u201cclearly softened\u201d, and added that job creation is \u201cvery low\u201d.\n\nHigher oil prices are also in focus, as they can affect inflation expectations. WTI rose almost 3% to above $102.50, supporting the Canadian Dollar against some other currencies even as USD\/CAD climbed.\n\nLooking back to this period in 2025, we saw the USD\/CAD pair surge toward 1.3900, driven by intense fears of a wider Middle East conflict. Today, with those specific tensions having de-escalated, the pair is trading much lower, around 1.3550. This change highlights how quickly geopolitical risk premiums can disappear from currency markets, altering trading conditions.\n\n

From 2025 Volatility To 2026 Calm<\/h3>\nThe surge in WTI crude to over $102 a barrel back then was a major factor, complicating the Federal Reserve’s policy by fueling inflation fears. Now, with WTI holding steady near $81, this upward price pressure has eased significantly. This stability gives central banks more flexibility than they had throughout much of 2025.\n\nIn 2025, the high uncertainty led to a spike in implied volatility, making strategies that profit from large price swings attractive. We see much lower implied volatility today, with the CBOE FXC Volatility Index hovering near its 12-month lows. This suggests that in the coming weeks, selling options premium through strategies like short strangles could be more advantageous in the current, calmer environment.\n\nWe can recall the intense focus on the Nonfarm Payrolls report at this time in 2025, with Fed Chair Powell highlighting downside risks from weak job creation. In contrast, the February 2026 report showed a healthy addition of 210,000 jobs, indicating a more resilient labor market today. This strength, combined with core inflation now down to 2.8%, shifts the market’s focus from recession fears to the simple timing of policy adjustments.\n\nA year ago, the Loonie\u2019s strength from high oil prices was completely overshadowed by the US Dollar’s safe-haven status. Now, with that risk subsiding, the Canadian Dollar’s fundamentals are more visible, though the Bank of Canada’s policy outlook is capping its upside. Derivative traders should consider that a sudden breakout is less probable now, making range-bound strategies more suitable than the directional trades we saw in 2025.\n\nCreate your live VT Markets account<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0start trading<\/a>\u00a0now. <\/b>\n

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Start trading now – Click here<\/a> to create your real VT Markets account <\/strong> <\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

USD\/CAD hits 1.3900 as Middle East tensions boost dollar; investors await US jobs data, oil surge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-updates"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"josephine","author_link":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/author\/josephine\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43667\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarketsglobal.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}