Dow futures higher, rebounding ahead of key Powell speech
Investing.com — U.S. stock futures traded higher Friday, bouncing back after the previous session’s hefty losses ahead of Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s key speech at the Jackson Hole symposium.
By 06:30 ET (10:30 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was 100 points, or 0.3%, S&P 500 Futures traded 12 points, or 0.3%, higher and Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 25 points, or 0.2%.
Wall Street’s main indices slumped Thursday, despite stunning results from Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), the world's most valuable chipmaker, as better-than-expected unemployment data saw jitters mount ahead of an eagerly-awaited speech by the head of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 370 points, or 1.1%, its worst day since March, while the broad-based S&P 500 dropped 1.4% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slipped 1.9%, their biggest single-day losses since early August.
The yearly gathering of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming started on Thursday, but Fed Chair Jerome Powell will be in the spotlight later in the day when he delivers a speech investors have been waiting for all week.
Last year, Powell used this speech to warn of “some pain” ahead in the battle against inflation, hitting the stock market, and any hints about the Fed's rate outlook are sure to reverberate strongly.
The Fed is trying to walk a tightrope. Inflation readings have been cooling in the past few months, but prices still aren't back to the Fed's annual 2% target and a still-tight labor market gives officials reason to remain vigilant.
The U.S. central bank is expected to keep interest rates unchanged at its next meeting in September, but there still remains a chance that it raises by another quarter of a percentage point at its November
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