Futures slip following last week’s rally; Jackson Hole in sight By Reuters

(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures fell on Monday after Wall Street posted its best week of the year as investors looked ahead to the week’s central event – Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole.

All three major indexes rose last week as a slew of economic data, including a consumer price index reading and a retail sales report, pointed to a soft landing scenario for the economy.

Goldman Sachs cut the odds that the United States will enter a recession in the next 12 months to 20 percent from 25 percent following the latest weekly jobless claims and retail sales reports.

Over the weekend, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said failure to cut rates next month could hurt the labor market, while San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly, a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC ) this year, said in an interview with the Financial Times that it is time to consider adjusting borrowing costs.

When Fed Chairman Jerome Powell speaks at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium on Friday, investors will be looking for signs of an acknowledgment of a rate cut in September.

Traders currently see a 72% chance the Fed will cut interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) in September, compared to an even split between a 50 and 25 basis point cut seen a week ago , according to the CME FedWatch tool.

Minutes from the Fed’s latest policy meeting are expected on Wednesday. Later in the day, comments from Fed Governor Christopher Waller will also be on investors’ radar.

The earnings calendar is thin this week, with cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks (NASDAQ: ), retailer Target and home improvement chain Lowe’s (NYSE: ) among the major firms set to report later in the week.

At 5:10 a.m. ET, the Dow E-minis were up 20 points, or 0.05%, the E-minis were down 5.25 points, or 0.09%, and the E-minis were down 55, 25 points or 0.28%.

Most megacap and growth stocks were down in premarket trading, with Nvidia (NASDAQ: ) and Tesla (NASDAQ: ) falling more than 1% after rising last week.

Dutch Bros fell nearly 3 percent after brokerage Piper Sandler downgraded the coffee chain to “neutral” from “overweight.”

B. Riley Financial fell 8.6 percent after a more than 65 percent decline last week. Co-founder and co-CEO Bryant Riley offered to buy the bank on Friday, following his warning of a hit from his investment in Franchise Group, owner of Vitamin Shoppe (NASDAQ: ).