Wild swings after the FOMC – North American session Market wrap for January 29

Ben Graham · January 29

Log in to today's North American session Market wrap for January 29

Markets remained timid following yesterday's FOMC event, showing indecisive movements across equities and crypto.

Only metals initially rallied, but that momentum faced a severe test during today's session.

After Gold reached $5,600 and Silver hit $121, a sudden wave of profit-taking triggered a 10% flash crash across the metals complex.

Risk assets struggled in the morning session but rebounded ahead of the strong earnings from SanDisk and Visa.

Microsoft suffered its largest daily drop since 2020, closing down 10%!

Cryptocurrencies also fell, with Bitcoin breaking below the $85,000 level and dragging the sector lower.

The US Dollar finished yet again as the weakest G7 currency. Investors appear unwilling to buy the Greenback until the next Fed Chair is announced.

President Trump stated he will make that decision next week.

Geopolitical tensions increased as US military assets complete their gathering near the Middle East, while Tehran announced coordinated maritime drills with Russia and China in the Strait of Hormuz.

These headlines drove Oil to a 10% rebound over two sessions, reaching highs of $66.56 before correcting. Expect further volatility across all asset classes.

Discover:

Wild swings after the FOMC – North American session Market wrap for January 29 - ExpertFX School — Market Close Heatmap – Source: TradingView – January 29, 2026

The picture for Stocks is still very mixed, particularly as the width of certain stocks rallying to new record and those struggling is widening.

Watch out for such end-cycle warning signs.

Cross-Assets Daily Performance

You can see how volatile today's session was, particularly around the Opening bell at 9:30 A.M.

Sudden outflows in Metals have changed the daily picture for many assets – It's as if a big fund had liquidated its positions.

This affected the Cryptos the most but it will most probably hold an impact for weekend risk – Deleveraging at such extremes could make sense, but watch for cascading effects of such flows.

A picture of today's performance for major currencies

Today's session in FX was a very confusing one, looking at many up and down movements across all currencies but the ones to keep your eyes on for the coming sessions are the CAD, US Dollar and Japanese Yen.

The latter is coming back from a harsh rout throughout the past month.

As month-end flows arrive, expect to see further FX volatility.

Major Earnings in Tomorrow's session

Tomorrow's session will focus heavily on traditional and energy sectors – Focus on Chevron, Exxon and Verizon, all releasing their earnings during the pre-Open.

A look at Economic data releasing throughout today and tomorrow's sessions

Get ready for an active Friday session as the week closes with top-tier growth and inflation data that could spark significant weekend risk flows.

Starting tonight, the eyes of the market turn to Japan for a critical price stability check.

The Tokyo CPI (YoY) is expected to hold at 2%, while Unemployment is eyed at 2.6%. Any upside surprise in Tokyo inflation will fuel hawkish BoJ bets. This is followed by the Australian Producer Price Index (Q4), expected at 3.5%, which serves as the final inflation puzzle piece for the RBA.

But all eyes are turning on tomorrow's Banger session:

Eurozone GDP and Inflation (04:00 – 08:00 A.M. ET) will dominate the early morning. Eurozone GDP (YoY) is projected at 0.3%, while Headline CPI (Jan) is expected to tick up to 2.2%. If the bloc shows stagnation alongside sticky prices, the ECB’s "no-cut" stance will be under a true stress test.

Later, the North American session offers interesting dynamics for the USD and CAD. Canadian GDP (Nov) is expected to rebound to 0.1% following a previous contraction.

But the real test for the US will be the Producer Price Index (08:30 A.M. ET) and the Chicago PMI (09:45 A.M. ET):

US Core PPI (YoY) is expected at 2.9%. Any heat here forces a re-evaluation of the Fed’s 2026 path.
Chicago PMI is eyed at 44, as investors look to see if the industrial heartland is finally turning a corner.

The day wraps with speeches from Fed’s Musalem and Bowman, before high-impact Chinese PMIs (20:30 ET) provide the final word on global growth before the weekend.

Safe Trades, keep a close eye on the Middle East!

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