US open: Stocks slide as investors remain jittery ahead of Jackson Hole meeting

The main US indices slid early on Friday, as investors remained jittery after a volatile week and ahead of of a weekend gathering of the world´s central bankers.

Just before 1500 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 56 points to 16,598.85 while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq shed six and 14 points respectively.

The Jackson Hole central bankers’ summit, which gets underway in Wyoming on Saturday, will also be weighing on investors’ minds, as they look for clues over the timing of a first rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer, Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard are all scheduled to appear at the meeting.

“With the current volatility levels, it seems the FOMC might be a little wary but the scramble to achieve ‘normalisation’ may well trump common sense,” said Brenda Kelly, analyst at London Capital Group.

“Conflicting rhetoric from New York Chief Dudley and Kansas President George continue to keep the markets guessing.

“If anything this Fed policy of ‘forward guidance’ only helps stoke volatility when the aim should be quite the opposite.”

Speaking to Reuters, St Louis Fed president James Bullard said the Federal Open Market Committee is likely to hesitate over whether the first rate rise should come in September if the recent volatility in the global financial markets persists until then.

Meanwhile, speaking to CNBC ahead of the Jackson Hole symposium, Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota, who will leave the Fed at the end of 2015, said the US central bank should not consider raising rates this year.

"Barring that [ a drastic change in the economic outlook] I don't see a near-term increase in interest rates as being appropriate, and by near-term I mean really through the course of 2015," he said.

Friday data

Personal income rose in line with expectations in the three months to July, according to the Commerce Department.

Workers´ incomes expanded by 0.4% month-on-month in July, just as expected by economists.

Personal consumption expenditures, meanwhile, increased by 0.3% over the month, a tenth of a percentage point less than anticipated.

Asian stocks rebound

Elsewhere, most key Asian stocks closed in the black after a turbulent week where China became the centre of a global selloff, with the Shanghai Composite climbing 5.4%, while Japan’s Nikkei gained 3.02%.

European stocks, meanwhile, wavered and looked set to end the week in the red.

The dollar was broadly flat against the euro and lost 0.11% against the yen but climbed 0.38% against the pound, while gold futures rose 0.25% to $1,125.40.

Oil prices, which soared to their biggest one-day gain since 2009 on Thursday, edged lower, as West Texas Intermediate fell 0.35% to $42.41 a barrel, while Brent shed 0.59% to $47.28 a barrel.

In company news, mining group Freeport-McMoRan surged 7.16% , after soaring 18% late in the previous session, as billionaire investor Carl Icahn disclosed a stake in the group and saying its shares are undervalued, according to a filing.

Biochem group Amgen climbed 0.58% after the Food and Drug Administration gave the green light to the company’s cholesterol treatment.