The US Dollar makes another comeback – Market wrap for the North American session - September 18

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Log in to today's North American session Market wrap for September 18

Today's story was one of a FOMC rate decision that American Markets loved. Between a comeback in the US Dollar and Nasdaq rallying to new highs, traders loved the atmosphere.

Tech stocks led the charge after the acquisition news that Nvidia had acquired a stake in Intel, propelling related names like CrowdStrike and Synopsys higher.

Still, the Dow Jones closed near the same lows seen during the FOMC’s intraday down-wick, a dynamic that will be worth watching in the coming sessions. By contrast, the Russell 2000 marked fresh all-time highs—a first since November 2024—underscoring the rotation into smaller caps.

The underlying theme is one of a Fed independence that finally wasn't gone too far (for now at least).

Powell’s not-so-dovish speech reassured US investors that the central bank decision-making is still guided by economic fundamentals rather than political pressure.

Repeating what I mentioned on this Gold/Silver piece released earlier, Bowman and Waller, early birds for Rate cut calls got proven right by a degrading labor market which indeed gave them further credibility.

For the US Dollar, there is still plenty of ground to cover before reaching pre-August highs, but the price action no longer carries the bearish tone that dominated over the summer.

On the geopolitical side, President Trump and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer appeared in a joint conference, reiterating alignment on the Russia-Ukraine war and broader global issues.

While differences emerged on some details, the talks highlighted stronger US-UK unity.

Bloomberg also reported that European LNG purchases from Russia are set to be phased out at a faster pace, reflecting the region’s accelerated shift away from Moscow’s energy supply.

Read More:

• Gold (XAU) and Silver (XAG) find selling pressure from the post-FOMC stronger US dollar
• US Stock Market rally: Fed’s 25 bps cut, Nvidia-Intel Deal, and strong Jobless Claims fuel gains
• NZDUSD weakens sharply after the FOMC, losing 2% in two days

Cross-Assets Daily Performance

Cross-Asset Daily Performance, September 18, 2025 – Source: TradingView

Cryptos and tech related risk-assets have performed well overall today, as the mood got pretty optimistic from the latest rate cut.

However, Long-end bonds are getting hammered from higher issuance and a further inverted-yield curve.

Commodities also didn't like their session very much, a tighter USD is the culprit of this.

A picture of today's performance for major currencies

Currency Performance, September 18 – Source: OANDA Labs

The largest outstander from today was the Kiwi which got absolutely murdered from the huge miss in their GDP data (-0.9% vs -0.3%) expected, which directly put back more cuts on the table for the RBNZ (check out our most recent NZDUSD analysis!)

For the rest, the theme is one of a comeback from the US Dollar which finishes the strongest of majors – An update to our most recent DXY analysis is more than warranted.

For the rest, The Canadian Dollar held a decent performance today – Forex seems to get back to interesting points after all the Central Bank Rate decisions.

A look at Economic data releasing in tonight and tomorrow's sessions

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

The session is not entirely over for JPY traders and with also a bit of data for NZD:

At 18:45, we’ll see the New Zealand trade balance (−$3.94B prev.) and from the UK, GfK Consumer Confidence (−18 cons. vs −17 prev.).

Shortly after, Japan releases August CPI (19:30) : headline (3.1% prev.), ex food/energy (3.4% prev.), and ex fresh food (3.1% cons. vs 2.7% prev.) which may preview some changes to the closely followed by the BoJ rate decision (0.5% hold expected) and policy statement, with Markets still on the outlook for any communication regarding future hikes.

Friday also has some decent data points, particularly from Europe with German PPI (−1.8% YoY consensus) and UK retail sales (MoM 0.4% cons) both releasing at 2:00 A.M.

The BoJ press conference follows at 2:30, key for yen direction and will be closely watch by participants (even as they wake up the day after) – Carry trades are still into play!

Later in the day, focus shifts to North America with Canada retail sales at 8:30 A.M. ET (−0.8% MoM estimate) and Fed’s Daly speech closing the week.

Safe Trades in this huge Central Bank week!

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