Stock futures drifted higher early Friday as investors awaited a key speech from Fed Chair Jay Powell later this morning.
Near 8:20 a.m. ET, Dow futures were up about 0.4%, S&P 500 futures were higher by 0.3%, and Nasdaq futures were up a bit more than 0.2%.
Powell is set to speak at 10:05 a.m. ET on Friday, though Fed commentary from the annual Jackson Hole Economic Symposium in Wyoming has already moved markets.
On Thursday, stocks finished lower across the board as the Nasdaq fell nearly 2%, forfeiting gains from an early rally spurred by Nvidia’s (NVDA) strong earnings report.
Fed speakers including Boston Fed president Susan Collins — who spoke to Yahoo Finance’s Jennifer Schonberger in an interview from Jackson Hole — suggested higher interest rates may be needed to tame inflation, which weighed on markets on Thursday.
Last year, stocks sold off sharply during Powell’s speech in Jackson Hole, which said the Fed would continue raising interest rates “until the job is done” bringing down inflation. Since that speech, interest rates have risen an additional 300 basis points with the fed funds rate now at its highest level since 2001.
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