Stock Futures Inch Higher After 5 Days of Declines for S&P 500 as Investors Brace for Powell Speech

Stock futures are pointing to a slightly higher open on Friday after several days of losses as investors anxiously await to hear what Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has to say about the outlook for interest rates. 

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.3% recently, while those linked to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq added 0.2%. The benchmark S&P 500 comes into Friday’s session on a five day losing streak, and each of the major indexes—after hitting a series of record highs—are on track to post weekly losses for the first time in three weeks. The Nasdaq Composite is pacing for its worst week since May as technology stocks have led the move lower in recent days.

Powell is slated to speak at 10:00 a.m. ET from the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium, an annual gathering of central bankers from around the world. The Fed has held its benchmark interest rate steady throughout 2025 amid concerns that tariffs could spur inflation, but market participants are now pricing in the expectation that the central bank will start cutting rates in September. If Powell fails to signal today that a rate cut is likely at the Fed’s policy meeting next month, the market reaction is likely to be negative.

Shares of the world’s largest technology companies were mostly higher this morning. Alphabet (GOOG) shares were up 1% following reports that the company had secured a $10 billion deal to provide cloud services to Meta Platforms (META). Meta shares were up slightly, while Microsoft (MSFT), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN), Broadcom (AVGO) and Tesla (TSLA) also gained ground.

Nvidia (NVDA) shares were down 1% following reports the AI investor favorite told suppliers to suspend production of its H20 chip, after the Chinese government asked local firms to avoid using the chip due to security concerns.

A handful of stocks were on the move following the release of quarterly results. Shares of Ross Stores (ROST) rose nearly 4% after a strong earnings report, capping off a busy week of releases from major retailers. TurboTax maker Intuit (INTU) and human resources software provider Workday (WDAY) both dropped more than 5% after releasing their quarterly numbers.

Bitcoin was at $112,100, little changed from yesterday afternoon and trading near its lowest levels of the month. Since hitting a record high of above $124,000 just over a week ago, bitcoin traders have been selling ahead of Powell’s speech, preparing for the possibility that the Fed chair might not indicate rate cuts are imminent.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which affects borrowing costs on all sorts of loans, was at 4.32%, down from 4.33% at yesterday’s close. The yield traded as low as 4.20% last week but rose after a worrisome inflation report led some investors to scale back their expectations for rate cuts.

The U.S. dollar index, which measures the performance of the dollar against a basket of foreign currencies, was little changed this morning at around 98.65.

West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, rose 0.2% to $63.65, gaining ground for the third consecutive day after falling to their lowest levels since early June earlier this week. Gold futures slipped 0.4% to $3,370 an ounce.