Jerome Powell has the ideal platform Friday to deliver a clear signal the Federal Reserve is about to resume cutting interest rates. But the economy isn’t giving him an equally clear signal that now is the time.

Stocks start the week just shy of record highs, underpinned by a well-received corporate earnings season and hopes the Federal Reserve will soon start reducing official borrowing costs again. Investors are therefore keen that Friday’s keynote address by Fed Chair Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole symposium will be suitably dovish.

The annual Jackson Hole Economic Symposium takes place later this week. It will attract policymakers from around the world and feature highly anticipated remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

The dollar was mixed on Tuesday as traders awaited the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium later this week for further clues on U.S. interest rate policy. A speech on Friday by Fed Chair Jerome Powell is this week's main focus,

The Nasdaq fell as megacaps lost, after having rallied for much of the year. Nvidia fell 3.5%, the biggest drop in nearly four months.

Investors are tracking talks aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine war and awaiting Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech at Jackson Hole at the end of the week.

Incoming information has confounded Fed Chair Jerome Powell's data-dependent strategy by pulling in both directions.