U.S. stock index futures were treading water late Thursday as investors remained largely on the sidelines awaiting more economic cues from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium.

Futures steadied after Wall Street posted five straight days of losses amid waning confidence that the Fed will cut interest rates in September. A sharp selloff in tech stocks — amid profit taking in the sector and growing doubts about artificial intelligence — weighed on Wall Street.

Mixed second-quarter results from leading retailer Walmart Inc also rattled U.S. markets, with shares falling more than 4%. S&P 500 futures were up slightly at 6,391.50, while Nasdaq 100 futures were flat at 23,217.0 by 03:44 Moscow time. Dow Jones futures were up 0.1% at 44,890.0.

Spotlight on Powell’s Jackson Hole Speech

Powell is scheduled to speak at a symposium in Jackson Hole on Friday, potentially providing more signals about the state of the economy and the Fed’s interest rate plans.

His speech comes amid growing doubts about whether the Fed has enough stimulus to cut rates in September.

Fed minutes from its late July meeting showed policymakers remain cautious about cutting interest rates in the near term, especially amid uncertainty about the inflationary impact of President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs. It also noted that policymakers are more focused on managing inflation than on containing further weakness in the labor market.

Powell has faced continued pressure from Trump and his allies to cut interest rates sooner, but has remained largely adamant about further easing.

Markets have been gradually trimming bets on a September rate cut this week, especially after the release of flat inflation data for July.

Fed funds futures are pricing in a 73.1% chance that the Fed will cut rates by 25 basis points in September, down sharply from the 90.2% seen a week ago, CME Fedwatch shows.

Wall Street under pressure from tech losses, Walmart earnings

Wall Street indexes closed lower on Thursday, with the S&P 500 posting its fifth straight session of declines.

This comes amid sustained losses in tech stocks as investors question the profitability of continued heavy investments in artificial intelligence. A critical report from a division of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology contributed to this week’s sell-off.

NVIDIA Corporation was one of the hardest hit by the sell-off, losing 3% for the week.

Mixed results from Walmart also weighed on the stock. Although the company raised its full-year forecasts, citing robust consumer demand, its second-quarter earnings fell short of expectations due to growing margin pressure from Trump’s tariffs.

Walmart shares fell 4.5% on Thursday and were flat in after-market trading.

The S&P 500 fell 0.4% to 6,370.16 on Thursday. The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.3% to 21,100.31, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% to 44,785.50. The Nasdaq is down 2.4% for the week. Economic data also provided mixed signals. While the Purchasing Managers' Index came in stronger than expected for August, a larger-than-expected increase in initial jobless claims reflected a steady cooling in the labor market.