Forex Today: US Dollar consolidates gains as focus shifts to Fed policy announcements

Here is what you need to know on Wednesday, January 29:

The US Dollar (USD) struggles to build on Tuesday's gains as investors move to the sidelines ahead of the Federal Reserve's (Fed) highly-anticipated monetary policy announcements. The US economic docket will also feature Goods Trade Balance data for December. Additionally, the Bank of Canada (BoC) will release its interest rate decision in the early trading hours of the American session on Wednesday.

The USD Index gained traction and rose nearly 0.5% on Tuesday as the uncertainty surrounding US President Donald Trump's tariff policy forced markets to adopt a cautious stance. Early Wednesday, the USD Index stays in a consolidation phase slightly below 108.00. The Fed is widely anticipated to keep its monetary policy settings unchanged following the first meeting of the year. After the Fed releases its policy statement, Chairman Jerome Powell will respond to questions in a press conference starting at 19:30 GMT.

USD/CAD holds steady at around 1.4400 after posting small gains on Tuesday. The BoC is expected to lower the policy rate by 25 basis points (bps) to 3%. 

During the Asian trading hours on Wednesday, the data from Australia showed that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 2.4% on a yearly basis in the fourth quarter. This reading followed the 2.8% increase recorded in the third quarter and came in below the market expectation of 2.5%. Assessing the inflation report, Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the worst of the inflation challenge is well and truly behind them and added that the soft landing they have been planning for is looking more and more likely. AUD/USD stays under modest bearish pressure in the European morning and trades below 0.6250.

According to the Bank of Japan's (BoJ) Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes, some policymakers preferred to raise the interest rate to 0.5%, while the majority voted to keep rates unchanged at 0.25%, citing uncertainties in wage growth and global economic conditions. USD/JPY showed no immediate reaction to this publication and was last seen trading near 155.20.

EUR/USD turned south and lost more than 0.5% on Tuesday. The pair holds steady at around 1.0430 to begin the European session on Wednesday. The European Central Bank will release Private Loans data for December later in the session.

GBP/USD closed in negative territory on Tuesday and snapped a three-day winning streak. The pair trades marginally higher on the day above 1.2450 early Wednesday.

Following the bearish opening to the week, Gold regained its traction and rose more than 0.8% on Tuesday. XAU/USD struggles to preserve its bullish momentum but holds comfortably above $2,750.