A big week ahead for markets, highlighted by the Jackson Hole Symposium at the end of the week.

The EUR/USD strengthened on Friday, climbing up over $1.14 once again. The pair opened at $1.13751 and weakened early to $1.13657. The pair began its march up after that point, rallying to a high of $1.14443 late in the session. It came off those highs slightly and is currently trading at $1.14351. The GBP/USD also strengthened late last week after opening at $1.27064. The pair rallied to near-session highs of $1.27482 before plunging to lows of $1.26969 a few hours later. The GBP/USD was not finished however, rallying again to session highs of $1.27522 late in trading. It is not far off those highs, currently trading at $1.27477.

The Dow put in another solid performance on Friday after opening at 25,576.03. It remained quite flat in early trading before falling to a low of 25,504.78 mid-session. From that point however, the US index rallied until it peaked at 25,728.45 late in trading. It is currently trading at 25,703.70. The Dax opened and closed quite flat, but that does not reflect what happened in between. The German index opened at 12,242.75 and slowly declined to a low of 12,133.40 midway through the session. The Dax bounced back from that point, climbing to a high of 12,253.30 before retracing and closing at 12,229.90.

The week ahead sees plenty of significant data releases which has the potential to cause some volatility. The Fed Reserve’s Jackson Hole Symposium is being held at the end of the week, which in itself can cause volatility. This meeting is attended by Fed Reserve members, finance ministers, academics and financial market participants. It is a meeting to discuss the US economy, economic outlook and monetary policy settings. As it is attended by state Fed Reserve members, more localised economic issues are also discussed.  The data released today and the most significant releases for the rest of the week include:

Today – German PPI & Buba Monthly Report, Canadian BoC Governing Council Member Carolyn Wilkins speaks

Tuesday – RBA Governor Philip Lowe speaks, Australian Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes

Wednesday – NZ Retail Sales, Canadian Retail & Core Retail Sales

Thursday – US FOMC Meeting Minutes, US Crude Oil Inventories

Friday – Jackson Hole Symposium Day 1, Fed Chair Jerome Powell speaks, US Core Durable Goods Orders

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