HG MARKETS:

Rising Treasury yields caused Wall Street’s major indexes to drop on Thursday while investors watched Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium. It is anticipated that this speech will shed light on the likelihood of a rate reduction next month.

The 10-year note yield rose to 3.8502% following a four-session drop. Leading growth and megacap stocks were among the worst performers; one such example was Tesla, which fell 3.2%. Contributing to losses in eight of the eleven major S&P sectors—consumer discretionary and information technology suffering the most—the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index also dropped by 2.4%.

Participants in the market are keeping a close eye on Powell’s anticipated speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium. In light of recent dovish remarks from Fed officials, Naomi Fink, Chief Global Strategist at Nikko Asset Management, believes Powell’s speech could either support or contradict expectations for a rate cut in the near future.

Policymakers at the Federal Reserve are keeping a careful eye on the US labor market; one has hinted that interest rate cuts may happen “soon.” Nine out of the last ten sessions had seen advances for the S&P 500, driven by statistics indicating fewer job creation than first projected for the year ending in March 2024. But in the wake of an unanticipated increase in unemployment in July, the labor market is still being closely watched.

The money markets currently project a 76% probability of a September rate decrease of 25 basis points, with additional easing anticipated by December. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 326 points, or 0.29%, to 40,680.00 at 11:42 a.m. ET. TheNasdaq Index dropped 320 points, or 0.81%, to 19,583.00, while the S&P 500 lost 57 points, or 0.42%, to 5583.75.