Stocks start the week just shy of record highs, underpinned by a well-received corporate earnings season and hopes the Federal Reserve will soon start reducing official borrowing costs again. Investors are therefore keen that Friday’s keynote address by Fed Chair Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole symposium will be suitably dovish.

The stock market is heading into a catalyst-filled week as Fed Chair Jerome Powell gets ready to speak at Jackson Hole and big retailers report earnings.

Explore the mixed state of the US economy, from inflation and labor market resilience to Fed policies, and their potential impact on the stock

Liquidity constraints pose a significant challenge for BTC bulls looking to engineer a steep uptrend well into the year-end.

The U.S. dollar was little changed on Wednesday as traders awaited a speech from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the annual Jackson Hole central bankers' symposium later this week for clues on the path of monetary policy.

London (UKX) +1.08% at 9,288.  UK's inflation rises to 3.8% in July, highest in 18 months. Germany (DAX:IND) -0.60% at 24,277. France (CAC:IND) -0.08% at 7,973. The headline annual inflation rate in the Eurozone was unchanged from the prior month at 2% in July.

Bitcoin fell below $113,000, pulling the crypto market down 1.5% to $3.9t as profit-taking deepened ahead of Powell’s Jackson Hole speech.

By Ishaan Arora (Reuters) -Gold ticked up on Wednesday but hovered near three-week lows, as investors looked towards the Federal Reserve's July meeting minutes and the Jackson Hole, Wyoming symposium of central bankers this week for cues on further rate cuts.