US STOCKS-Jackson Hole jitters, Walmart drive Wall Street lower

By Johann M Cherian, Sanchayaita Roy and Carolina Mandl

Aug 21 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes fell on Thursday as investors awaited monetary policy clues from the Federal Reserve's annual economic symposium, while big-box retailer Walmart's quarterly results dampened sentiment.

All eyes are now on the Jackson Hole, Wyoming, symposium where Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak on Friday at 10 a.m. ET. Traders will closely monitor Powell's speech for any clues on interest rate cuts in September following recent job market weakness.

"Jitters over what's going to transpire tomorrow at Jackson Hole is certainly weighing on risk appetite a little bit with chair Powell's speech," said Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist for LPL Financial. "There could be a decent selloff if we get a more hawkish than expected event."

Traders have pared down bets on a 25-basis-point interest rate cut in September to 79% from 99.9% last week, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Multiple policymakers, including Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack, Atlanta President Raphael Bostic and Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid, have struck a cautious tone and acknowledged the need to stay data-dependent.

A labor market report on Thursday showed signs of a slowdown, while a private report indicated business activity picked up pace in August, reflecting a complex environment for the U.S. central bank, which will deliberate on interest rates next month.

At 2:00 p.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 155.46 points, or 0.34%, to 44,782.85, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 22.16 points, or 0.35%, to 6,373.63 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC lost 74.59 points, or 0.35%, to 21,098.27.

Eight of the 11 S&P 500 sectors were down, led by consumer staples, which declined 1.4% after Walmart WMT.N raised its fiscal year sales and profit, driven by strong demand from shoppers across all income levels, but missed quarterly profit estimates and flagged higher costs from tariffs.

Shares of the retailer tumbled 4.8%. The spotlight was on reports from retailers, including Target TGT.N and Home Depot HD.N, this week as investors gauged the impact of U.S. tariffs on consumer spending.

"There's a bit of a mixed picture within the consumer space and there's uncertainty in the economy - whether that's the job market or whether that's prices (increasing) from a tariff pass through," said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Northlight Asset Management.

A technology stocks selloff earlier this week appeared to lose some steam, but Nvidia NVDA.O, Meta META.O, Amazon.com AMZN.O and Advanced Micro Devices AMD.O remained weaker.

The selloff signaled investor fears that tech stocks, which have soared from April lows, are overvalued, while Washington's growing interference in the sector has also raised alarms.

Among other market movers, Coty COTY.N slumped 22.3% after the beauty products maker forecast lower current-quarter sales on weak U.S. spending.

In trade developments, the U.S. and the European Union on Thursday finalized a framework deal they reached last month, with no impact on stocks.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.62-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 97 new highs and 36 new lows on the NYSE.

The S&P 500 posted six new 52-week highs and no new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 54 new highs and 95 new lows.