Forex Today: Eyes on PMI data ahead of highly-anticipated Jackson Hole Symposium

Here is what you need to know on Wednesday, August 23:

Markets have stabilized early Wednesday following Tuesday's volatile action. Investors await August preliminary S&P Global Manufacturing and Services PMI surveys for Germany, the EU, the UK and the US. Later in the day, the July New Home Sales report will also be featured in the US economic docket and the European Commission will release Eurozone Consumer Confidence data for August. The highly-anticipated Jackson Hole Symposium will get underway on Thursday.

The US Dollar gathered strength against its rivals in the second half of the day on Tuesday as Wall Street's main indexes turned south after a mixed opening. The US Dollar Index touched its highest level since mid-June above 103.70 in the American session on Tuesday but retreated to the 103.50 area early Wednesday. Meanwhile, the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield stays in negative territory below 4.3% in the European morning and US stock index futures gain between 0.3% and 0.5%.

EUR/USD dropped to a 7-week low of 1.0833 on Tuesday before staging a technical correction. At the time of press, the pair was up marginally on the day above 1.0850.

GBP/USD rose to 1.2800 in the European session on Tuesday but closed the day in negative territory at 1.2730. The pair recovers toward 1.2750 on Wednesday.

The data from New Zealand showed in the Asian session that Retail Sales contracted by 1% on a quarterly basis in the second quarter. This reading followed the 1.6% decline recorded in the first quarter and came in better than the market expectation for a decrease of 2.6%. NZD/USD edged higher with the immediate reaction but failed to gather bullish momentum. The pair was last seen trading flat on the day at around 0.5950.

S&P Global Manufacturing PMI edged lower to 49.4 in August from 49.6 in July, the data from Australia showed. The Services PMI worsened to 46.7 in the same period and came in below the market expectation of 47.9. Despite the disappointing PMI data, AUD/USD stays in positive territory slightly below 0.6450 in the European session.

USD/JPY closed in the red on Tuesday and continued to stretch lower toward 145.50 on Wednesday. Jibun Bank Manufacturing PMI ticked up to 49.7 in Japan and Services PMI rose to 54.3 from 53.8.

Gold price gathered recovery momentum amid retreating US Treasury bond yields and climbed above $1,903 after closing slightly below that level on Tuesday.

Bitcoin holds steady near $26,000 for the fifth straight on Wednesday and Ethereum stays on the back foot below $1,700.