The benchmark US stock measures were mostly tracking in the red before the open Friday as traders await Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's keynote speech at the central bank's annual economic symposium at Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
The S&P 500 edged down 0.1%, and the Nasdaq decreased 0.3% in premarket activity, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average nudged 0.1% higher. The indexes finished the previous trading session in the green, with the Nasdaq recording its biggest single-day percentage gain since Aug. 4.
Warsh is scheduled to speak at the Fed's symposium in Wyoming at 10 am ET. Investors are expected to parse Warsh's comments to assess his view of the economy and outlook for interest rates.
Markets are currently pricing in roughly a 66% probability that the Federal Open Market Committee will keep its benchmark lending rate at its September meeting, with the remaining odds favoring a 25-basis-point increase, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
Treasury yields were trending upwards in premarket action, with the two-year rate rising 0.4 basis points to 4.24% and the 10-year rate adding 1.2 basis points to 4.68%.
Kansas City Fed President Jeff Schmid and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack reportedly said Thursday that rates are not restraining the economy enough and argued for further hikes to reach the Fed's 2% inflation goal, according to Bloomberg News.
Boston Fed President Susan Collins said that current policy is "mildly restrictive," while Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said he is waiting for evidence that inflation shocks are not persistent, Bloomberg reported.
Government data earlier in the week showed that US inflation accelerated sequentially in July, keeping the Fed's preferred gauge for price increases well above its 2% target, while consumer spending growth eased.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil decreased 0.5% to $83.10 a barrel before the opening bell, while Brent dipped 0.1% to $89.62.
The Trump administration has told mediators it isn't interested in returning to the terms of the memorandum of understanding reached with Iran in June, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing sources. President Donald Trump is willing to wait and see if his hardline economic measures against Tehran work, according to the report.
The Treasury Department recently launched an economic campaign to cut off financial channels that support Iran.
In a social media post, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said he had "creative discussions" with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani. Araghchi also noted that "putting diplomacy back on track" wasn't impossible but depends on the US building trust and upholding commitments.
Shares of PayPal (PYPL) tanked 16% pre-bell after media reports said that buyout firm Advent and payment processor Stripe have dropped their efforts to buy the payments company. Marvell Technology (MRVL) fell 7.9% after reporting its latest quarterly results.
Friday's economic calendar has the Chicago purchasing managers' index for August at 9:45 am, followed by the final University of Michigan consumer sentiment report for the same month at 10 am. The weekly Baker Hughes oil-and-gas rig count is out at 1 pm.
Gold inched down 0.1% to $4,662 per troy ounce, while bitcoin shed 1.1% to $79,162.
