Markets Tread Water as Fed Chair Warsh Prepares First Jackson Hole Keynote

U.S. stocks opened mostly flat on Friday as investors held their positions ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh's keynote address at the annual Jackson Hole symposium, scheduled for 10 a.m. ET. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.08%, the S&P 500 gained 0.05%, and the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.10%.

The speech marks Warsh's first major public address since taking the helm of the Fed in May, and Wall Street is closely watching for any signal on the interest rate path ahead of the September 15-16 FOMC meeting. This year's symposium theme is "Financial Innovation: Implications for Payments and Policy," though prior Fed chairs have used the occasion to outline broader monetary policy frameworks. Warsh has so far given few specific cues on policy direction, leading RSM chief economist Joseph Brusuelas to call it "the most unusual Jackson Hole monetary symposium in recent memory" due to what he described as Warsh's early missteps.

History, however, suggests the market reaction to Jackson Hole speeches tends to be muted, and the FOMC is not expected to issue any policy statement or rate change at the symposium itself.