Take Five: Summer at Jackson Hole

The U.S. Federal Reserve building is pictured in Washington · Reuters

LONDON (Reuters) -It's summer camp season and not to be left out, U.S. rate setters and overseas pals gather in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to talk central banking.

The so-called BRICS grouping gathers too amid increasing disquiet in some big emerging markets, while business activity data globally and China property woes mean August is proving far from dull.

Here's a look at the week ahead in markets from Ira Iosebashvili in New York, Li Gu in Shanghai, Yoruk Bahceli in Amsterdam, Jorgelina do Rosario and Marc Jones in London and Rachel Savage in Johannesburg.

1/ SUMMER CAMP!

U.S. Federal Reserve officials (plus friends from the ECB, BoE and BOJ) descend on Jackson Hole, Wyoming on Aug. 24-26 for their annual central bank confab.

A year ago, uncertainty swirled around how high the Fed would raise rates and whether aggressive tightening could defeat inflation without triggering recession.

Investors are more sanguine today, as expectations grow for a Goldilocks scenario of resilient growth and cooling price pressures.

That doesn't mean central banks are off the hook. Inflation remains sticky in places and investors want to know how long it will take for central banks to switch to easing. Bonds yields are rising again, threatening to dent stocks.

And on Wednesday, the spotlight turns to results from chip-maker Nvidia, whose stock is up almost 200% this year in-part on AI excitement.

2/ CHINA: HANDLE WITH CARE

Fresh strain in China's property market exacerbates the sense of crisis building in the world's No.2 economy.

The onus is on authorities to do more after an emergency rate cut last week failed to shore up sentiment. On Monday, China cut its one-year benchmark lending rate in a bid to boost credit demand.

Other measures investors are pining for include a relaxation of home-buying restrictions in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. Property accounts for roughly a quarter of the economy and news that new home prices fell for the first time this year in July is worrying. Country Garden, once China's largest developer by sales, is teetering near default; a major Chinese trust company has failed to make payments on financial products following wrong-way property bets and embattled developer China Evergrande has filed for bankruptcy protection in the United States. Peak China pessimism, it appears, has not been reached yet.

3/ HOLD ON

Wednesday's August flash PMI business activity indicator, released across a host of economies, could throw cold water over optimism about resilient global growth and help traders get a sense of how long rates will stay high.