France’s HCOB Manufacturing PMI in January recorded a value of 51, exceeding predicted expectations of 50.3, indicating growth in the manufacturing sector’s activity. A PMI value above 50 signals an increase in manufacturing expansion.<\/p>\n
The Pound Sterling strengthened, trading above 1.3500, bolstered by positive retail sales and PMI data from the UK. This performance kept the Pound resilient against its competitors, with market attention turning to US data.<\/p>\n
Gold retreated to above $4,900 after reaching a record high near $4,970. The modest recovery of the US Dollar, ahead of US PMI data, contributed to the decline while geopolitical factors remained a focus.<\/p>\n
Bitcoin showed slight recovery signals, while Ethereum and Ripple stayed under pressure amid attempts to stabilise following a market sell-off. BTC continued its recovery after finding support around a significant level.<\/p>\n
The Bank of Japan maintained rates at 0.75%, showing increased confidence in growth and achieving a 2% inflation target. The balancing act involves raising rates to support the Yen without hindering growth progress.<\/p>\n
Tron (TRX) maintained gains above $0.30, supported by positive on-chain and derivatives data. The retest of the bullish breakout structure earlier in the week reinforced the upward trend.<\/p>\n
Looking back a year ago, data showed a surprisingly strong French manufacturing sector that helped boost confidence. Now, in January 2026, the situation has reversed, with the latest HCOB Manufacturing PMI for France coming in at 49.5, indicating a slight contraction. This weaker outlook suggests traders could consider buying put options on the Euro Stoxx 50 index, anticipating potential downside in European equities.<\/p>\n
A year ago, we saw the pound sterling rally strongly on upbeat data, with GBP\/USD climbing above 1.3500. Today, the pound is struggling to hold the 1.2800 level as the UK’s Q4 2025 GDP growth was a meager 0.1%, fueling fears of a prolonged slowdown. Given this backdrop, traders might explore strategies that profit from further sterling weakness, such as purchasing puts on GBP\/USD futures.<\/p>\n
In early 2025, gold pulled back from a record high as the US Dollar showed some strength. While gold has consolidated since, it remains elevated near $4,850, supported by stubbornly high inflation, as the latest US CPI for December 2025 was reported at 3.8%. Traders could look at collar strategies on gold futures, which would protect a long position while capping potential upside, fitting for a market with persistent inflationary risk.<\/p>\n
Last year’s crypto market was attempting to stabilize after a sell-off. The approval of several spot Ethereum ETFs in the third quarter of 2025 provided a significant tailwind, pushing ETH well above its previous highs. With this renewed institutional interest, traders should watch for opportunities to buy call options on Ethereum, betting on continued momentum in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
The Bank of Japan\u2019s challenge of balancing rate hikes and growth was a key theme this time last year when rates were at 0.75%. Despite hiking rates twice since then to 1.25%, the yen has remained weak, with USD\/JPY recently trading above 165. This indicates the interest rate difference with the US is still the dominant factor, suggesting that long USD\/JPY positions remain favorable.<\/p>\n
Create your live VT Markets account<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0start trading<\/a>\u00a0now. <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" France’s PMI exceeds forecasts; Pound and Tron strengthen; Gold dips; Bitcoin recovers; BoJ holds rates steady.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":17036,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-updates"],"acf":{"acf_article_selection_author":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vtmarkets.com\/en-asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}