Getting ready for the FOMC – North American session Market Wrap for December 9

[Ben Graham]

Log in to today's North American session Market wrap for December 9

Erratic flows across Markets yet again as the countdown to the FOMC decision goes on.

While US Stock Markets were snoozers today, but risk-asset enjoyers did get a volatility dose: Cryptos offered quite a strong session, with Bitcoin coming shy of $95,000 and Ethereum touching the $3,300 level before retreating lower.

The unambiguous winner of today's session, however, is easily Silver, which broke its fresh $59 record to mark an intraday All-time High at $60.83 in an aggressive late-session move.

This price action is highly suggestive of a late session short squeeze, with some traders unfolding some awkward positions held too long ahead of the FOMC event – I have seen such moves before and have also been there myself.

The next key technical test for the metal will be tomorrow's close: confirmation of a breakout relies on the metal closing tomorrow above $59.

The fundamental backdrop remains anchored but restrictive.

This morning’s JOLTS report delivered a beat which, while preserving the high odds for tomorrow’s rate cut (around 85%), has effectively taken some 2026 rate cuts.

The Eastern-Europe conflict headlines also intensified: President Trump renewed his menaces to Ukraine in a Politico interview released today, questioning Zelenskyy's legitimacy due to postponed elections and asserting that Russia retains the "upper hand" in the conflict, while throwing shade at European leaders.

There hasn't been much movement in the Euro but such words originally propulsed the Joint Currency to some extended-rallies earlier this year.

For those who missed, the RBA delivered a hawkish pause yesterday evening, holding their rates steady at 3.60%.

The central bank cited renewed upward pressures on inflation and did not rule out the possibility of future rate hikes in 2026, creating a stark divergence between US and Australian policy outlooks and sending AUD/USD to some 4-months highs.

Tomorrow should bring back significant volatility after a calm pre-FOMC period.

Still, traders will have to scramble to extract as much information as they can from the Powell speech at 14:30 tomorrow, as there will be nine more days (and seven sessions) until the emphatically essential NFP report on December 18th—the January NFP will release on January 9th as the BLS begins to recover its shutdown backlog.

Read More:

• FOMC Meeting Preview: How the FOMC's December Dot Plot Will Affect the US Dollar (DXY)
• US Curve outlook: Why US Treasury yields are surging before the Fed
• Will Gold (XAU/USD) and Silver (XAG/USD) reach new records with the FOMC?

Cross-Assets Daily Performance

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Cross-Asset Daily Performance, December 9, 2025 – Source: TradingView

Except for some spikes in Cryptos (particularly Altcoins) and Silver, other assets are patiently awaiting for the Fed to get moving.

Very exciting.

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Crypto Daily Performance, December 5, 2025 – Source: Finviz

A picture of today's performance for major currencies

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Currency Performance, December 9 – Source: OANDA Labs

Dull movement throughout the open until AUD buyers and JPY sellers gave sense to the FX session.

The Yen got wrecked particularly hard as further doubts on the Bank of Japan emerge as hawkish communication attempts fail to protect the Nippon currency.

Check out our fresh FX reviews right here:

• The Yen Rout Continues: USD/JPY Surges to New Monthly Highs despite Key Rate decisions
• AUD/USD: Major bullish breakout of Aussie ahead of RBA

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

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For all market-moving economic releases and events, see the MarketPulse Economic Calendar.

The overnight to tomorrow session is going to be a game-changer and most probably the most intense trading period of December.

Starting tonight with the China CPI, traders will get to know more on if economists start to turn the page on Chinese deflation, which will have its own influence on AUD and NZD particularly, and same for Asian Stock Markets.

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

Bank of England's Governor Bailey and ECB's Lagarde go back to back in the early morning at a Financial Times Conference. The subject of their discussions hasn't been announced yet.

Later, the Bank of Canada will deliver a first Central Bank rate decision, widely expected to remain unchanged but also should provide interesting developments for the future path: 2026 hikes have started to price after last Friday's Canadian Employment numbers.

The press conference at 10:30 A.M. will be closely followed.

But all eyes will be on the FOMC rate Decision, a Market volatility classic.

A 25 Bps cut is expected but the cut itself will be far from the most interesting event:

Dot plots (14:00) will be releasing for 2026 and above all, Powell's speech (14:30) will be followed by traders as if it was a prophecy.

CHECK OUT OUR FOMC PREVIEWS!

This will be one of his 4 final FOMC appearances before he steps down (May 2026).

NEC Director Hassett is still the favorite for the job.

Safe Trades!

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