• KC Fed President George opens Jackson Hole Symposium , hopes will feature a ‘ productive dialogue ‘.
  • BOE’s Posen says Fed has room to ease monetary policy further given low inflation, high unemployment. ECB should buy Spain, Italy sovereign debt nad formally “cap” yields .- MNI
  • U.K GfK consumer confidence stays at -29 . little/no reaction to GBP/USD .
  • S. Korea fell 1.6% m/m and fell 0.3 % y/y weaker that forecast , sluggish global demand being cited. Service sector output rose 0.7% m/m from -04%.
  • Japan August manufacturing PMI fell to 47.7 from 47.9.
  • Japan July household spending rose 1.7% y/y -MNI
  • Japan July unemployment rate unchanged at 4.3 % -MNI
  • Japan July national core CPI fell 0.3%-MNI
  • Japan July Industrial Production fell 1.2%m/m, fell 1% y/y -MNI
  • Australia July private sector credit rose 0.2%m/m and 4.2% y/y .
  • China MNI August business sentiment indicator fell to 47.54 from 49.73 in July.

The start of (I can’t wait till it’s over) the symposium at Jackson Hole is on it’s way , with all eyes (and ears) being focused on Mr. Bernanke’s speech. Whether he delivers the goods is another question to be debated later . Also late Friday you have the official Chinese PMI (expected to come in below 50) that will also set the tone for the opening on Sunday . Market spent most of the time consolidating , starting off with the dollar firm across the board , and ending this session with a softer tone on scattered position squaring.

EUR/USD found a bid at 1.2500 and firmed to a high of 1.2520 . We didn’t have to think about the offers above at 1.2580 through to 1.2600 , or the bids below at 1.2475/85.

USD/JPY saw very disappointing numbers out of Japan with no reaction what so ever . High of 78.65 had a previous low of 78.52 for the range most of the session . Continued selling now testing support here at 78.40. Of course larger bids down below at 78.00/10 should keep us at 78.00/79.00 range on the wide for quite some time .

AUD/USD found some good buying interest at 1.0270/80 level but fails to rally over 1.0300 . If it does break , sellers are waiting up above around the 1.0340/50 level . Rio Tinto came in late with statement that China is on path of economic growth and expects economy to grow at 8%.

Have a Good Weekend .