US stock futures steady after Wall St snaps 8-day rally

Investing.com-- U.S. stock index futures steadied in evening deals on Tuesday after Wall Street closed lower for the first time in nine sessions, with focus remaining on the upcoming Jackson Hole Symposium and more cues on interest rate cuts. 

Wall Street indexes closed a touch lower on Tuesday as a rebound over the past eight sessions petered out. Heavyweight technology stocks logged some losses after a strong recovery in recent sessions, while energy stocks slid tracking weak oil prices.

S&P 500 Futures steadied at 5,620.25 points, while Nasdaq 100 Futures fell 0.1% to 19,797.25 points by 19:04 ET (23:04 GMT). Dow Jones Futures rose 0.1% to 40,972.0 points. 

Wall St snaps 8-day winning streak as Jackson Hole looms 

Wall Street indexes fell on Tuesday after rising for the past eight sessions, as they rallied past market weakness and volatility seen in early-August.

Markets turned cautious before the Jackson Hole Symposium- a meeting of major central bank heads- later this week, where Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is set to deliver an address. 

While investors expect Powell to provide more dovish cues, especially amid recent signs of some cooling in inflation, he is not expected to explicitly outline plans for an interest rate cut in September.

But the Fed is still widely expected to cut rates next month, with markets pricing in a 67% chance for a 25 basis point cut and a 33% chance of a 50 bps reduction, according to CME Fedwatch.

Wall Street’s rebound from lows hit in early-August was driven chiefly by optimism over lower interest rates , with any more encouraging signals from the Fed likely to drive more gains.

The S&P 500 fell 0.2% to 5,597.12 points on Tuesday, while the NASDAQ Composite fell 0.4% to 17,814.98 points. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% to 40,834.97 points. 

JD.com sinks on report Walmart plans to sell stake 

Among major aftermarket movers, Chinese e-commerce firm JD.com Inc (NASDAQ:JD) slid over 9% after Bloomberg reported that Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) planned to sell its stake in the firm for about $3.7 billion. 

Keysight Technologies Inc (NYSE:KEYS) surged 11% after its earnings beat estimates, while 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE:DDD) fell 5% after clocking weaker-than-expected earnings.

Furniture maker La-Z-Boy Incorporated (NYSE:LZB) fell 4% as a weaker-than-expected guidance largely offset strong earnings.