Fed in Focus: Global markets seesawed as investors braced for a pivotal speech by U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at Jackson Hole. On Thursday, Wall Street’s main indexes fell amid fears of hawkish Fed remarks, with traders scaling back bets on a September rate cut reuters.com reuters.com. “Investors are saying, ‘You know what? Let’s take some profits right now,’” observed Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, noting jitters ahead of Powell’s comments reuters.com. Thin August trading volumes magnified the moves reuters.com, and strategists warned of a selloff if Powell sounded more hawkish than expected reuters.com. Meanwhile, multiple Fed officials struck a cautious tone. Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack said she “[would] not see a case for reducing interest rates” if the meeting were held now, given persistent inflation risks reuters.com. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic still has a 2025 rate cut penciled in, but emphasized he’s “not stuck on anything” pending more data reuters.com. Futures are pricing around a 70–75% chance of a quarter-point cut in September reuters.com reuters.com, down from near-certainty a week ago.
