Jackson Hole Symposium, August 22nd - 24th

The Jackson Hole Symposium, is a forum for central bankers, policy experts and academics to come together to focus on a topic that is not necessarily of immediate concern, but instead looks into the future at emerging issues and trends; this year’s topic is “Global Dimensions of Unconventional Monetary Policy.”

Hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, the somewhat diminished guest list is a shift in this 2013: early April, FED Chairman Ben Bernanke announced he will miss the annual Jackson Hole monetary policy symposium due to a scheduling conflict, skipping the event for the first time since becoming the head of the Central Bank in 2006.

But he won’t be the only absent: neither Mark Carney nor Mario Draghi will attend the conference this year. Instead, their Number 2 will represent the economies, in the heads of Charles Bean for the BOE and Vitor Constancio for the ECB. Many members of the Fed’s policy-setting committee are not attending also.

Over the last few years, the symposium has been closely watched by forex traders, for purported clues about Fed policy. It was there, in 2010, that Bernanke hinted the second round of QE, triggering strong market moves. Somehow, we are expecting a much more quiet reunion this time that does not diminish the risk of wild spikes if there’s a “leak” of privileged data.

Comments regarding upcoming economic policy movements, particularly from the FED and the possibility of QE tapering, will be the main concern of investors this year: tips suggesting a soon to come end for facilities will likely benefit the greenback, at least in the short term, while silence on the matter will likely keep the greenback under pressure until next FED


http://www.fxstreet.com/analysis/be-ready/2013/08/16/