Forex Today: All eyes on Powell's speech at Jackson Hole Symposium

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

Here is what you need to know on Friday, August 26:

Markets stay relatively quiet early Friday as investors stay on the sidelines while waiting for FOMC Chairman Jerome Powell to deliver his opening remarks at the annual Jackson Hole Symposium. On Thursday, the improving market mood made it difficult for the dollar to find demand and the US Dollar Index (DXY) closed the day in negative territory near 108.50. The DXY posts modest gains in the European morning amid a negative shift witnessed in risk mood early Friday. The US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will release the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index alongside Personal Income and Personal Spending data for July.

Jackson Hole Symposium Preview: Will Powell power dollar bulls?

The data from the US revealed on Thursday that the BEA revised the Q2 GDP growth higher to -0.6% from -0.9% in its flash estimate. Additionally, the weekly Initial Jobless Claims declined to 243K, coming in better than the market expectation of 253K.

While speaking on the sidelines of the Jackson Hole Symposium, several Fed policymakers repeated that it was too soon to decide on the size of the next rate hike. Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, however, said that even a 50 basis points rate hike in September would still be a "substantial move" and this comment helped Wall Street's main indexes gain traction.

For the third straight day on Thursday, EUR/USD tested parity but failed to break that key level. In the early European morning, the pair trades in a tight range above 0.9950.

After having registered small daily gains on Thursday, GBP/USD reversed its direction declined toward 1.1800 on Friday.

Gold closed the third straight day in positive territory on Thursday and touched its highest level in a week at $1,765 before losing its traction. With the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield rising 1% early Friday, gold stays on the backfoot below $1,760.

Supported by the renewed dollar strength and rising US Treasury bond yields, USD/JPY trades in positive territory near 137.00.

Bitcoin continues to move up and down in a narrow channel at around $21,500. Ethereum rose above $1,700 on Thursday but failed to hold there. As of writing, ETH/USD was down 2% on the day at $1,660.

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

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