Aug 28 (Reuters) – Futures tied to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq inched lower on Friday after Nvidia’s stellar forecast sparked a technology rally in the previous session, while markets awaited Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s much-anticipated Jackson Hole appearance.
All eyes are on the chief’s first speech at the Fed’s annual gathering in Wyoming, with markets ready to scrutinize any hints on how the central bank plans to approach monetary policy amid a volatile bond market and mixed inflation data this month.
“Warsh does not need to pre-commit to a September hike at Jackson Hole. He needs to establish that inflation failing to decline in the weeks or months ahead is sufficient for tightening,” said analysts at StoneX.
“That would close the gap with his committee and preserve flexibility to hold in September. We are skeptical he delivers that clarity.”
Three Fed officials on Thursday issued inflation warnings, with at least two reinstating their stance to raise interest rates.
Money market participants are pricing in a 33% chance of an interest rate hike in September, according to CME’s FedWatch tool.
In the market, chip stocks pulled back after a rally in the previous session, sparked by bellwether Nvidia’s blockbuster forecast that indicated the AI-driven rally had room to run.
Still, the gains have put Wall Street’s main indexes on track for a rise to cap off an eventful week. If gains hold through close, the indexes could claw back ground lost last week after surging bond yields hammered stocks.
On Friday, Nvidia slipped 1% in premarket trading, and Micron Technology and Intel were down 2.2% each.
Marvell Technology lost 8.6% on doubts over the timing of revenue from its AI chip agreement with Alphabet’s Google despite an increase to its 2027 revenue forecast.
Meanwhile, PayPal fell 13.3% after Bloomberg News reported on Thursday that a consortium of buyout firm Advent and payment processor Stripe had decided to abandon their pursuit of the payments firm.
Gap shares advanced 13.5% after naming industry veteran Michael Francis as Old Navy’s new CEO and raising its annual profit forecast.
At 5:46 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 59 points, or 0.11%, and S&P 500 E-minis were down 4.75 points, or 0.06%. Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 92.25 points, or 0.32%.
On Friday, markets will also parse the final reading of the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment for August and Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee’s speech.
(Reporting by Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)
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