Futures trading points to a sluggish day on Wall Street

US stocks struggled on Friday as bets swung towards a rate hike in September following Fed chair Warsh's speech at Jackson Hole. The Nasdaq finished the day down 0.5% at 26,402 points, while the S&P 500 was down 0.3% at 7,711 points and the Dow Jones edged 10 points lower to 53,559 points. After initially rising following the Fed chair’s speech, Wall Street was firmly in the red in the early afternoon. The Nasdaq led the declines, down 0.6%, while the S&P 500 was down 0.4% and the Dow Jones slipped 0.2%. With Warsh not offering any forward guidance, markets are confused, according to XTB research director Kathleen Brooks. “Kevin Warsh’s much-anticipated speech at Jackson Hole was a break from the past; as expected there was no forward guidance. We did not get prepped about any future rate hike, and the markets can’t seem to agree on what his message was,” Brooks said. “Stocks are acting like he was dovish, while gold, the dollar and bonds are all acting like his speech was hawkish. One thing Warsh did achieve today was to confuse financial markets.” Fed chair Kevin Warsh addressed the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium, emphasizing the central bank's focus on inflation while presenting an assessment of broader economic conditions. During his remarks, Warsh stated that underlying inflation remains above the target level and that achieving price stability is the primary objective of the Fed, specifically noting figures from the Personal Consumption Expenditures index. Continuing his established approach, Warsh did not provide forward guidance regarding future inter...