LIVE MARKETS-Wall Street slumps as markets await Fed's Powell's guidance

Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to you by Reuters reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at markets.research@thomsonreuters.com.

WALL STREET SLUMPS AS MARKETS AWAIT FED'S POWELL'S GUIDANCE

Shares on Wall Street eased on Thursday amid caution going into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's remarks on Friday, with investors unsure about the top U.S. central bank official's stance on future monetary policy particularly in the midst of the recent jobs market weakness.

The Nasdaq composite continued its slide for a third straight session, down 2.4%. That's the largest three-day loss since April.

On the S&P 500, nine of the 11 sectors ended the day in the red, with consumer staples the biggest decliner at 1.2%.

Retail bellwether Walmart WMT.N was down 4.6% after it missed quarterly profit estimates and flagged higher costs from tariffs. However, it did raise its fiscal year sales and profit, driven by strong demand from shoppers across all income levels.

A technology stocks selloff earlier this week lost some momentume, although Nvidia NVDA.O, Meta META.O, Amazon.com AMZN.O and Advanced Micro Devices AMD.O remained weaker.

"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."

Going into the Fed event in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, traders reduced the chances of rate cut in September to 74%, down from 92% a week ago, according to CME's FedWatch.

Here's the closing snapshot of financial markets:

(Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss, Carolina Mandl)

*****

EARLIER ON LIVE MARKETS:

FED'S POWELL TO SPEAK, BUT DOES IT REALLY MATTER? CLICK HERE

SHORT SELLERS COUNT MILLIONS IN PROFITS ON PALANTIR'S RECENT SLIDE CLICK HERE

TARIFFS BITE QUIETLY, BUT THE PAIN IS SPREADING CLICK HERE

WALL STREET DIPS AS CAUTION REIGNS AHEAD OF FED'S POWELL'S SPEECH CLICK HERE

WHY ASIAN CONTENT IP IS WINNING GLOBAL AUDIENCES CLICK HERE

GOLDMAN BETS BIG ON USDC BOOM; IS TETHER LOSING ITS GRIP? CLICK HERE

TRUMP'S DOVISH BIAS EFFECT CLICK HERE

EUROPE' EARNINGS GROWTH PROBLEM CLICK HERE

SAFETY IN SWITZERLAND CLICK HERE

WHY IS WALL ST DOWN? IT'S A ROTATION, BABY CLICK HERE

EUROPEAN SHARES SEEK DIRECTION AHEAD OF CENTRAL BANKS MEETING CLICK HERE

FUTURES MIXED AHEAD OF JACKSON HOLE CLICK HERE

JACKSON HOLE TO OPEN UNDER TRUMP'S SHADOW CLICK HERE