A US Dollar and Metal domination – Market wrap for the North American session - September 25

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Log in to today's North American session Market wrap for September 25

Today's market was marked by a surprising disconnect.

Usually, when the US dollar strengthens, it puts downward pressure on commodities like metals.

However, with both the USD and precious metals rising significantly, the correlation is mixed up. This environment would be seen in risk-off markets but with bonds selling off harshly, the story isn't just about this.

In a rare and ominous move, the US Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, called for the assembly of all US Army generals across the world.

Overall, participants are still scratching their head to understand what is preparing but a significant geopolitical event may be on the horizon.

Unsurprisingly, this environment wasn't supportive of Equities, marking another down day with significant losses across the board in the US and global stock markets.

The hardest-hit asset class was arguably cryptocurrencies which took a significant plunge, with Bitcoin going back below $110,000 and ETH dipping below $4,000.

The combination of a surging US dollar, which makes other assets and currencies less attractive, and the widespread flight from risk led to a massive sell-off in digital assets and other foreign exchange markets.

Read More:

• Dollar strength rattles global Markets: what to watch for the USD
• Dow Jones, Nasdaq-100 and S&P 500 face third day of consecutive decline despite GDP number beat
• Is the Euro trade still on? Outlook vs USD, CAD and CHF

Cross-Assets Daily Performance

Cross-Asset Daily Performance, September 26, 2025 – Source: TradingView

Ethereum and other cryptos are dragging the picture down.

The scale of crypto volatility masks how crazy this session was for other assets but metals and the US dollar have stolen the spot.

There was a particular move in Metals highlighted in a piece from earlier today, but they have since recovered quite largely:

Dollar Index and Metals comparative Performance at the end of the session, September 25, 2025 – Source: TradingView

A picture of today's performance for major currencies

Currency Performance, September 25 – Source: OANDA Labs

It was all about North American currencies with the once again repeating pattern of geographic trends in FX: The USD leads the board followed by the CAD.

On the losing side, the rest, with the Kiwi getting particularly hammered throughout the past week.

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 long session is not over yet for APAC traders with the huge Tokyo CPI release that may prompt swifter volatility in markets (particularly in case of a beat).

Friday should also be pretty huge with the Core PCE release at 8:30 AM ET which should confirm whether tariffs' impact on inflation remains more subdued than expected.

This comes as many FED Speakers commented on tariffs today, showing that the Federal Reserve is showing less concerns on that aspect – but surprises are always a possibility, particularly when participants are not looking as thoroughly .

Supplemented with the usual U-of-Mich consumer sentiment release and inflation expectations at 10:00 A.M. and another multitude of FED speeches, dollar movement should be pretty volatile to conclude the week.

Of course, CAD traders shouldn't forget about the Canadian GDP data (also at 8:30), where we'll learn more on the Canadian economic performance, sending pretty bad numbers recently.

Safe Trades!

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