Market Recap 

XAUUSD 
XAUUSD set fresh 5‑day and 10‑day highs on Wednesday, peaking at 4642.93 at 21:02 after establishing its session low of 4588.61 at 01:00 near the open of 4588.88. The session spanned 54.32 points, equal to 1.18% of the opening level, and finished at 4626.08, up 37.2 points or 0.811%. The close was above the session midpoint of 4615.77 and sat in the upper portion of the day’s range, roughly 69% of the distance from the low to the high. Price action traversed key round levels, moving through the 4600 handle early and crossing the 4630 ten‑handle intraday before settling just below it. The day’s structure featured an early print of the low followed by a gradual progression to a late high and a pullback into the close that retained most of the intraday advance. On the higher‑timeframe backdrop, the daily Bollinger midline stood at 4454.08, placing the entire session above that reference. Into the close, the instrument remained above the nearest 100‑handle at 4600 and finished closest to the 4630 handle, while the new high at 4642.93 marked the strongest print across both the past five and ten sessions. Overall, the market delivered a contained but directional range, with the late‑session high defining the day’s extension and the closing level positioned well above the midpoint to underscore the retention of gains by the end of trade. 

USDJPY 
USDJPY traded within a 0.28 range over the 00:00–02:38 session and settled at 159.13, up 0.05 or 0.03% from a 159.08 open. The low was registered immediately at 159.00 at 00:00, aligning the session’s first print with the trough before price advanced to the high of 159.28 at 02:11. That high marked the strongest level of the past 5 and 10 sessions. From there, the pair eased back into the close, which landed just below the session midpoint at 159.14 and roughly centered between the day’s extremes. The day’s movement equated to 0.18% of the opening level. The round-number 159.00 figure was probed only at the start and then left intact, while progress stalled below the upper 159.20s ahead of the session end at 02:38. On the higher time frames, price remained above the H4 50-period simple moving average at 157.26, placing spot 1.9 points above that reference level across the window, and the H4 MACD signal was positive at 0.48. Intraday structure was cleanly sequenced low-before-high, with no subsequent retest of the session trough after the open. By the close, USDJPY held a marginal gain while keeping the advance contained within a modest amplitude, with the settlement level sitting fractionally under the midpoint and below the intraday peak that set the new 5- and 10-session highs. 

 

GBPUSD 
GBPUSD closed at 1.34, up 0.10% (14 pips) from the 1.34 open for the session spanning 2026-01-14 00:00 to 2026-01-15 00:00. The intraday sequence was low before high: the day’s trough printed at 00:00 at 1.34, followed by a climb to the session peak of 1.35 at 16:42, before easing into the finish. The move covered 0.34% of the opening level, with price operating between the 1.34 and 1.35 figures; 1.34 held on dips while 1.35 contained topside attempts. The close was set below the session’s midpoint, placing the settlement in the lower half of the day’s range, even as the high arrived late in the U.S. afternoon. On the higher timeframes, momentum gauges were subdued, with daily RSI(14) at 43 and hourly RSI(14) at 45. The pair finished beneath the daily Bollinger midline near 1.35 (D1 BB mid 1.35), keeping spot below that reference level into the close. Relative to round numbers, price stayed above 1.34 throughout and did not trade through 1.35, leaving both marks intact by the bell. Overall, the session featured an early low, a mid-to-late day high, and a retracement into the lower portion of the day’s distribution, with net gains on the day but no break beyond the immediate 1.34–1.35 band. 

Economic Calendar Recap & Preview 

A firmer U.S. producer-price print and steady Japanese liquidity growth set the tone over the last day: at 15:30 server time, U.S. PPI rose 0.2 percent month over month, easing from 0.3 percent previously but topping the 0.0 percent forecast; earlier, at 01:50, Japan’s BoJ L Money Stock increased 2.1 percent year over year, unchanged from the prior 2.1 percent and above the 1.8 percent forecast. Looking ahead, Thursday’s calendar centers on the U.K.’s monthly GDP at 09:00 server time, where the month over month figure is expected to be flat at 0.0 percent after 0.0 percent previously. The U.S. then reports Initial Jobless Claims at 15:30, with a forecast of 225.0 following 208.0 previously. In simple terms, a higher claims reading typically signals some cooling in labor demand, which can ease wage pressure. Given its sensitivity to surprises, the claims release can generate short-lived volatility across U.S. rates and the dollar.