Weekend Review — September 5, 2026

Weekend Review — September 5, 2026

Spot foreign exchange and precious metals markets closed at the end of Friday's session and will reopen Sunday evening, so this review is a structured look back at the week that was rather than live market commentary. Crypto, as always, continued to trade straight through the weekend, and we've incorporated the most recent weekend price action where relevant. The trading week of September 1–5, 2026 was a mixed one — not the kind of week that rewrites the macro narrative, but not a sleepy one either. The biggest single theme was the tension between easing Fed rate-hike expectations early in the week and a late-week reassessment triggered by a stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs report, a dynamic that cut across FX, precious metals, and crypto in different ways and at different times.

Across the three asset classes, the dominant pattern was the same: early-week softness in the dollar and a bid for risk assets, followed by a partial reversal as Friday's labor data reminded markets that the Fed's job may not be finished. That sequence — rally, then fade — produced net weekly moves that were modest in most FX pairs and metals, but masked intraweek ranges that were meaningfully wider. The notable exception was the Japanese yen, which posted an outsized 2.4% gain against the dollar on the week, driven almost entirely by U.S. yield repricing and leveraged position unwinding rather than any new Bank of Japan action. We'll break all of this down pair by pair, metal by metal, and coin by coin below.

1. The Week in Foreign Exchange

The Dollar Index finished the week essentially flat to slightly softer, trading a range of roughly 98.8 to 99.8 before settling around 99.1–99.2 on Friday's close, down from the 99.4–99.7 area where it opened Monday. That is a net decline of approximately 0.2–0.3 index points, or about 0.2–0.3% on the week — a very small move that belies the intraweek directional shifts. The dollar weakened through mid-week as traders pared back hawkish Fed positioning and rotated into risk assets, then found a floor on Friday as the stronger-than-expected August jobs report pushed markets to reassess the Fed rate path. With no FOMC meeting and no major Fed speech that materially shifted the policy outlook, the dollar lacked a fresh policy impulse and spent the week consolidating rather than trending in either direction.

EUR/USD

The euro gained approximately 0.4% on the week against the dollar, making it one of the cleaner directional moves in the G10 space. The pair found a weekly low in the 1.1580–1.16 area mid-week — rebounding off the 1.1584 level after a two-week corrective phase — before recovering toward the mid-to-high 1.16s by Friday's close, a net range of roughly 50–70 pips. The move was driven predominantly by the dollar leg rather than any euro-specific catalyst; there was no ECB decision or major Eurozone data release that materially shifted the pair's direction. Improving U.S. equity sentiment through mid-week provided a secondary tailwind, weighing on the dollar at the margin as risk appetite lifted cyclical and commodity currencies broadly.

GBP/USD

Cable was effectively unchanged on the week, with the dollar down only about 0.05% against sterling — a net move of a few tens of pips at most. The pair likely traded an intraweek range in the 70–100 pip vicinity, but closed very close to where it opened Monday. With no Bank of England decision and no U.K. data release significant enough to appear as a directional catalyst, sterling tracked broader USD and risk sentiment rather than domestic drivers. The near-flat weekly result was a textbook example of anticipated events being well-priced in advance; any pre-event positioning in cable was largely unwound without generating a sustained trend move.

USD/JPY

The yen was the standout performer of the week, with the dollar falling approximately 2.4% against the yen — by a wide margin the largest move among the major pairs. For a pair trading in the mid-130s area, a 2.4% decline translates to roughly 3–4 big figures of net weekly movement, pointing to aggressive position unwinding rather than orderly repositioning. The driver was squarely on the U.S. side: falling Treasury yields and a repricing of expected Fed terminal rates drained the carry attractiveness of long USD/JPY trades, flushing out what was clearly a crowded long dollar position. There was no new Bank of Japan policy action and no Ministry of Finance intervention commentary cited as a driver — the yen's strength was entirely a function of U.S. rate expectations and cross-asset flows, with the late-Friday jobs beat only partially arresting the week's trend.

USD/CHF

The Swiss franc edged fractionally higher against the dollar, with the pair down roughly 0.08% on the week — effectively unchanged. Normal Swiss franc volatility would suggest an intraweek range of 40–60 pips, but the net result was almost zero. The contrast with the yen's outperformance was notable: while both currencies carry safe-haven characteristics, CHF barely moved while JPY surged, suggesting that risk sentiment was mixed rather than decisively risk-off and that the week's moves were driven by rates and positioning rather than a broad flight to quality. There was no Swiss National Bank meeting or major Swiss data release that registered as a price driver.

AUD/USD

The Australian dollar gained approximately 0.66% against the U.S. dollar on the week, a moderate outperformance consistent with the broadly pro-risk, anti-dollar tone that prevailed through mid-week. That move translates to roughly 50–70 pips of net weekly gain. With no Reserve Bank of Australia decision or material Australian data release cited as a catalyst, the move was driven by the combination of a softer dollar, improved U.S. equity sentiment, and the general firming of commodity and growth-sensitive currencies in a week where Fed hike bets eased. AUD performed better than GBP but significantly less dramatically than JPY, placing it squarely in the middle of the G10 weekly leaderboard.

USD/CAD

The Canadian dollar posted the second-largest gain against the U.S. dollar among the majors we track, with USD/CAD falling approximately 0.86% on the week — a net move on the order of 80–100 pips. CAD outperformed both EUR and GBP against the dollar, suggesting a combination of commodity-related support and a favorable relative rate narrative compared to a softening greenback. There was no Bank of Canada decision during the week, and the pair's move looked orderly and USD-driven rather than the product of any domestic Canadian data surprise. Stable-to-supportive energy prices likely contributed as a secondary factor, given the well-established relationship between crude and the loonie.

NZD/USD

The New Zealand dollar was the notable laggard among the commodity and growth-sensitive currencies, with the dollar actually gaining approximately 0.46% against NZD on the week — making the kiwi the only major currency in our coverage to weaken against the dollar. That 0.46% move equates to roughly 40–60 pips of net NZD/USD decline. In a week where AUD and CAD both gained meaningfully against the dollar, NZD's underperformance points to relative carry and growth-expectation repricing within the commodity currency bloc rather than a broad risk-off move. There was no Reserve Bank of New Zealand decision or major New Zealand data release that appeared to drive the weakness directly; the move is more consistent with gradual repositioning in cross rates such as AUD/NZD than with any single domestic catalyst.