US pre-open: Futures point to losses as investors await news from Jackson Hole
Futures were pointing to losses on Thursday as investors awaited updates from the Federal Reserve's central banking symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
As of 1200 BST, Dow futures were down 0.11%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices starting 0.13% and 0.26% lower, respectively.
The Dow closed 240.29 points higher on Wednesday as investors mulled over minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest meeting, which revealed the central bank had no "pre-set course" for cutting rates.
The minutes indicated that policymakers considered the move to be more of a "mid-cycle adjustment", a term Fed chair Jerome Powell used shortly before a major stock market sell-off after the central bank's July 30-31 meeting.
The widely watched 2-year and 10-year US Treasury yield curve flattened and then inverted after the release of the minutes.
Discussing the minutes, Oanda's Craig Erlam said: "Investors are in no mood to tolerate the Fed dragging its feet. Which begs the question, how will Powell respond in his speech on Friday?
"Investors are effectively trying to force the Fed into submission and the central bank is losing, if they're going to fight back, now is the time. But it could get messy."
Looking forward, Fed officials were scheduled to deliver remarks on Thursday, following a period of limited public appearances.
Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker and Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan will both comment on the world's largest economy later in the session.
On the data front, weekly jobless claims will be posted at 1330 BST, while the Kansas City Fed survey and manufacturing and services PMI's for August will be released later on.
In corporate news, Hormel Foods, Salesforce.com, Gap and HP will all post their latest quarterly results throughout the course of the day.