Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open on Friday, with stocks likely to show a lack of direction after ending the previous session mostly higher.
Traders may be reluctant to make significant moves ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s speech at the Jackson Hole economic symposium later this morning.
While Warsh has refrained from providing forward guidance for monetary policy, traders are still likely to pay close attention to his remarks for clues about the outlook for interest rates.
“I do not expect Chair Warsh to provide a roadmap for upcoming policy meetings,” said Jeffrey Roach, Chief Economist for LPL Financial. “Investors should focus on how he connects inflation, productivity, and the bond market.”
He added, “If the speech itself is short on specifics, the references and citations may offer the clearest clues about where the new Fed chair intends to take the institution.”
Ahead of Warsh’s remarks, CME Group’s FedWatch Tool currently indicates a 64.3 percent chance the Fed will leave interest rates unchanged next month and a 35.7 percent chance of a quarter point rate hike.
Nonetheless, the central bank is still widely expected to raise interest rates by at least one quarter point before the end of the year.
After showing a notable upward move in morning trading on Thursday, stocks fluctuated in the afternoon but managed to end the day firmly positive. The tech-heavy Nasdaq showed a particularly strong move to the upside.
The Nasdaq jumped 411.16 points or 1.6 percent to 26,541.35 and the S&P 500 advanced 55.29 points or 0.7 percent to 7,730.99. The narrower Dow posted a more modest gain, rising 105.56 points or 0.2 percent to 53,569.44.
The surge by the Nasdaq reflected strength among technology stocks amid a positive reaction to earnings news from AI giant Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA).
Shares of Nvidia shot up by 8.7 percent after the chipmaker reported better than expected second quarter results and provided upbeat revenue guidance for the current quarter.
“Nvidia once again delivered stronger-than-expected results, providing some reassurance that the AI investment cycle remains intact,” said Daniela Hathorn, Senior Market Analyst at Capital.com.
Dow component Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) also skyrocketed on the day, with the cloud-based software company soaring by 22.6 percent.
The spike by Salesforce came after the company reported second quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates and forecast better than expected third quarter earnings.
Salesforce helped lead a rally by software stocks, driving the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index up by 4.5 percent to a nine-month closing high.
Semiconductor stocks also saw significant strength following Nvidia’s results, as reflected by the 2.3 jump by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.
Overall buying interest waned in the latter part of the trading day, however, as crude oil prices surged after the White House confirmed it was not in talks with ?Iran despite diplomatic efforts by other countries.
Traders may also have been reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh’s speech at the Jackson Hole economic symposium on Friday.
On the U.S. economic front, a report released by the Labor Department unexpectedly showed a modest decline in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits in the week ended August 22nd.
The Labor Department said initial jobless claims dipped to 203,000, a decrease of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised level of 207,000.
Economists had expected jobless claims to inch up to 208,000 from the 206,000 originally reported for the previous week.