The Trade War is back – A bloody session for Wall Street – Market wrap for the North American session - October 10

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Log in to today's North American session Market wrap for October 10th

After an almost flawless run since June, equity markets finally met their match.

Wall Street closed deep in the red as profit-taking and risk aversion swept the board.

The Nasdaq plunged 3.5%, marking its sharpest daily decline in months, while the S&P 500 and Dow followed suit. The selloff didn’t spare cryptocurrencies, with Ethereum down roughly 8% since the session opened amid broad liquidation flows.

The causes? After President Trump’s comments hinting at new tariffs, a mix of renewed US-China tensions reignited trade war fears.

With the U.S. government shutdown extending, metals rallying to record highs, the US Dollar making a comeback, and many mentions of overstretched equity valuations, the Market saw a perfect setup to lock in profits.

(A small parenthesis to announce that the BLS will publish the CPI data on the 24th of October, announcement made during the afternoon.)

The red bars across the screens tell the story.

Rough day for Equities – Source: TradingView

Read More:

• Markets Weekly Outlook – Geopolitical peace and turmoil ; Third week of shutdown
• US Stock Market outlook – S&P 500 breaks channel, Equities in the red to close the week
• Canadian employment makes a comeback – USD/CAD reverses

Yet, outside of markets, the world offered some respite:

Maria Corina Machado, main opposition leader of the Maduro Venezuelan regime, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Peace is materializing in the Middle East, with the IDF beginning its withdrawal under the Trump peace plan, paving the way for the release of the Israeli hostages within the next 62 hours.

Cross-Assets Daily Performance

Cross-Asset Daily Performance, October 10, 2025 – Source: TradingView

It's the second risk-off session in this week – Watch how it drags sentiment looking forward.

Next week will be very interesting.

A picture of today's performance for major currencies

Currency Performance, October 10 – Source: OANDA Labs

Today was largely the most volatile FX session we have seen in a while.

Things had been calm before the Trump tweet relaunching the Trade War

A typical day for Forex risk-off flows, the NZD and particularly the AUD which had enjoyed the past risk-on weeks, have got wrecked from the daily session.

This helped the bleeding JPY for the second day and same for the CHF which also had struggled recently.

A look at Economic data releasing through Sunday evening and Monday's sessions

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

Markets head into the weekend on alert — Sunday’s Chinese trade data (Sep) will be the key highlight, with exports expected to rebound around +6% YoY and imports seen at +1.5%.

The figures will come alongside New Zealand’s Business PSI (Sep) and the start of the IMF Meetings, which could deliver additional market-moving commentary.

Traders should also stay alert for geopolitical headlines — particularly Beijing’s reaction to recent US comments, as well as developments out of France and Japan that could add off-market volatility Monday’s open.

Early next week features Fed and BoE speeches, the US Budget Statement, and RBA Meeting Minutes on Monday.

Safe Trades!

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