Log in to today's North American session Market wrap for August 22.
Markets had been dawdling around throughout the whole past week, eagerly awaiting for FED Chair Powell's speech – and it did not disappoint.
The US Dollar got sent dropping, rate cut expectations for September back up strong, and all Forex currencies and Cryptos are now back in euphory.
I strongly invite you to check these two pieces to spot how strong the reactions are after the dovish speech from Powell:
Cross-Assets Daily Performance
Cross-Asset Daily Performance, August 22, 2025 – Source: TradingView
As seen in our previous articles, every asset class went wild after Powell's speech at the JH Symposium.
It seems that the current move might be slightly over-extended when looking at what the FED Chair said. Data will have to be monitored even more closely in the coming period.
By the way, I had to mask ETH as it prevented a nice reading of the charts, but the second largest crypto is close to a new all-time high record and up 13% on the day!
A picture of today's performance for major currencies
Currency Performance, August 22 – Source: OANDA Labs
Looking at the Currency board confirms that the rise in all assets was more about US Dollar selling rather than actual buying – This will be a story to confirm on Monday and promises to be interesting.
Maybe an overplay from the pricing of a 25 bps?
A look at Economic data releasing in Monday's session
For all market-moving economic releases and events, see the MarketPulse Economic Calendar.
With the Jackson Hole Symposium going all the way to Sunday evening, expect a few big speeches and headlines from Central Bank heads including ECB's Lagarde, Bank of Japan's Ueda, BoE's Bailey and many others.
For the rest, NZD traders will have to log in on Sunday evening for the NZ Retail Sales.
Monday should be a bit calmer on paper, still stay connected for the FED's Williams speech at 19:15 P.M.
Safe Trades and an enjoyable weekend!
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