Stock futures fell on Friday morning as Wall Street awaited Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s long-awaited speech at the US central bank’s economic symposium in Jackson Hole.
Futures tied to the S&P 500 fell 0.4 percent, while Dow Jones Industrial Average futures lost roughly 100 points, or 0.3 percent. Nasdaq futures fell 0.6%. The moves come after all three major averages rose in the previous session to post gains of more than 1%.
Powell is scheduled to deliver remarks at 10 a.m. ET in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where central bankers from around the world have gathered this week to discuss economic policy. Investors are bracing for hawkish messages from the head of the US central bank on his commitment to tighten monetary conditions and tame inflation.
“At the Jackson Hole Symposium, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell will be on a mission to deliver one key message: ‘lift and hold,'” EY Parthenon chief economist Greg Dako said in a note Friday after the second estimate of GDP showed the U.S. economy shrinking at a slightly slower pace than estimated last quarter.
Federal Reserve officials say upcoming policy decisions will be driven by economic data on a meeting-by-meeting basis — and so far many readings on economic activity confirm the central bank is likely to continue with further monetary tightening.
On Friday, data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis showed a slight drop in consumer prices last month. Core PCE, the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation, rose 4.6% in July, marking the slowest annual increase since October 2021.
On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City President Esther George told Yahoo Finance in an interview that policymakers have “more work to do” in raising interest rates and the sharpest effects of the latest moves have yet to be felt.
“We’re trying to get back to 2 percent inflation as quickly as possible without damaging the economy,” George said in Jackson Hole.
“So in July it looked like there was some easing of that price pressure, but certainly not enough to say we’re headed in the right direction,” she added. “So I think we have more data to look at. And I think we have more work to do to start seeing that trend go down.”
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Alexandra Semenova is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alexandraandnyc
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