S&P 500, Nasdaq Futures Pull Back: All Eyes On Fed Chair Powell's Jackson Hole Speech Today

The major U.S. index futures turned lower on Friday, reversing course from the previous session's sharp advances.

On Thursday, the U.S. market extended its gains for a second straight session as investors bought beaten-down stocks, taking advantage of the declines seen since mid-August. A couple of better-than-expected Main Street readings served to buoy sentiment.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index was the outperformer, with a 1.67% advance to 12,639.27. The broader S&P 500 index rallied 1.41% to 4,199.12 and the Dow Industrial Average added a more modest 0.98% to end at 33,291.79.

Notwithstanding the improvement seen in the past two sessions, the major averages appear to be on track to close the week lower.

At the time of going to press on Friday, the S&P and Nasdaq futures were down 0.41% and 0.56%, respectively. The Dow futures were down a more modest 0.21%.

See also: Where's the S&P 500 Headed Next? Impending Bull Market Or Bear Market Rally?

The spotlight is on Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s public appearance at the annual Jackson Hole symposium. He is scheduled to speak at 10 a.m. ET.

Economists widely expect Powell to suggest that the central bank would do all in its capacity to bring inflation under control.

In an interview with CNBC, St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard suggested Thursday that inflation would remain more persistent.

Traders may also keep an eye on the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis’ personal income and spending data for July due for release at 8:30 a.m. ET. The University of Michigan will release its final consumer sentiment index for August at 10 a.m. ET. Preliminary reading released in early August showed a headline reading of 55.1.

Crude oil futures are firming up after Thursday’s sharp pullback.

Most Asian markets followed Wall Street higher on Friday, although the sentiment was muted ahead of Powell’s speech. The Chinese market, however, bucked the uptrend.

The European markets opened firmer but have since then given back their gains and are trading on a mixed note.

In premarket trading on Friday, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY was retreating 0.43% to $417.70  and the Invesco QQQ Trust QQQ was moving down 0.57% to $318.74, according to Benzinga Pro data.