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<h3>STOXX FUTURES FALL AHEAD OF JACKSON HOLE (0653 GMT)</h3>
European futures are down in early London trading mirroring declines across Asian bourses as investors sought safer assets as they awaited a speech from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at Jackson Hole to gauge the path of interest rates.
Pan-European STOXX 50 futures (STXEc1) are down 0.35%.
Nerves ahead of Powell’s speech at the Fed’s annual retreat for global central bankers, including the Bank of Japan’s Kazuo Ueda and European Central Bank’s Christine Lagarde, encouraged traders to cash in on this week’s tech-led rally.
In the meantime, data showed that the German economy stagnated in the second quarter compared to the previous three months, following a winter recession.
(Joice Alves)
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<h3>JITTERS MOUNT AS POWELL RETAKES CENTRE STAGE (0615 GMT)</h3>
Fed Chair Jerome Powell will be back in the spotlight when he takes the podium at Jackson Hole later in the day to deliver a speech investors have been waiting for all week.
Any hints about the Fed’s rate outlook are sure to reverberate across asset classes.
Stock markets around the globe slid as nerves grew, with Wall Street taking a tumble overnight and Japan’s Nikkei (.N225) dropping 2% in the Asian morning.
Stoxx 50 (STXEc1) futures didn’t offer much hope for the coming day after Europe’s benchmark (.STOXX) drooped on Thursday.
The pristine U.S. resiliency story took a hit earlier this week after surveys showing dismal business activity shook confidence. Apparel retailer Gap (GPS.N) on Thursday joined a pack of corporations that have forecast steeper-than-expected declines in revenue, against a backdrop of weakening demand for discretionary items.
Meanwhile, weekly figures on unemployment insurance out the same day served as a reminder that the U.S. labour market remains tight, providing no relief for the Fed.
Fed officials squeezed in some final public comments before the boss’s speech: Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker leaned towards holding policy steady for the rest of the year, while Boston Fed President Susan Collins kept the door open for additional hikes.
Whether or not those comments are any sort of a preview of what’s to come from Powell’s speech, investors will just have to wait to find out.
Key developments that could influence markets on Friday:
<ul>
<li>Jackson Hole: Speeches by Fed Chair Jerome Powell and ECB President Christine Lagarde</li>
<li>Germany Q2 GDP detailed, August business surveys</li>
<li>Sweden July PPI, unemployment rate, payrolls</li>
</ul>
(Brigid Riley)
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The race to raise rates
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LIVE MARKETS-STOXX futures fall ahead of Jackson Hole