Powell's Jackson Hole speech ahead, Affirm earnings - what's moving markets

investing.com:

Investing.com — Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is set to give a pivotal speech at the Jackson Hole economic symposium on Friday, as some policymakers suggest that the central bank may need to keep rates higher for longer to combat inflation. Stock futures edge up ahead of Powell's comments. Elsewhere, buy-now-pay-later group Affirm shares surge on stronger-than-anticipated quarterly results, while Better falls sharply after the online mortgage lender's market debut following a SPAC tie-up.

1. Fed's Powell to speak at Jackson Hole

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to deliver a speech on Friday at an economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, with traders keen for any clues about the U.S. central bank's monetary policy outlook.

Powell's comments have been preempted by statements from policymakers this week which tempered some speculation that the Fed was about to step back from a long-standing campaign of interest rate hikes.

Officials flagged worries that inflation — the central focus of the tightening cycle — remains stubbornly higher than the Fed's 2% target despite recently decelerating. Resilient retail sales and consumer confidence data have also exacerbated worries that demand may not yet be slowing enough to tamp down price growth.

On Thursday, initial claims for jobless benefits dipped marginally but clung to a level indicating a robust labor market, while new orders for non-defence durable goods — a gauge of business investment — ticked up by 0.1% in July.

Complicating matters further were numbers on Wednesday that showed that business activity growth was its weakest since February.

How Powell interprets these mixed economic figures and how they could impact the Fed's rate path will likely