Fed at Jackson Hole, jobless claims, Tim Walz: 3 Things

The Federal Reserve kicks off its Jackson Hole Economic Symposium in Wyoming today, where Fed Chair Jerome Powell is set to give a speech Friday night that could hint at how much the central bank could cut interest rates in its September policy meeting.

US initial jobless claims for the prior week came in line with economist expectations — 232,000 — while increasing from the previous week, which could point to a cooling labor market after yesterday's payroll revisions.

Minnesota Governor and Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz accepted his nomination in a speech at the Democratic National Convention (DNC) on Wednesday night, endorsing Kamala Harris’s economic agenda. Vice President Harris is scheduled to formally accept her nomination and speak at the DNC tonight.

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This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.

Video Transcript

Now let's get to it with the three things that you need to know to start your trading day.

Yahoo Finance is Jennifer Sha Burger.

Jerry and Rick Newman.

Have more.

Officials are descending on Jackson Hole today for the Kansas City Federal Reserve's annual economic symposium.

All eyes will be on Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell as he gears up for a critical speech Friday at 10 a.m. Eastern where investors will be looking for clues that rate cuts are coming as inflation shows new signs of cooling.

The job market weakens and investors worry about recession.

The question in markets isn't whether the central bank will cut rates in September, but by how much traders are currently pricing in a 70% chance of a 25 basis point rate cut and a 30% chance of a 50 basis point cut.

And we're getting a new read on the labor market.

Initial jobless claims for the week ended.

August 17th shows 232,000 people filing for first time unemployment benefits.

Now that's in line with what economists expected and it's an increase of 4000 from the previous week's revised levels.

Wall Street is digesting a mixed picture of the labor market after the July jobs report showed fewer jobs added than expected and saw the unemployment rate take up to 4.3% investors using signs of a cooling labor market to bolster the case for the fed to start cutting.

And Tim Walz officially accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention.

Vice President Harris's running mate, talked about a number of subjects, his upbringing in a small town, his life as a teacher and football coach, his military service and his wife struggles with fertility treatments.

Weiss also touted harris' economic agenda if you're a middle class family or a family trying to get into the middle class.

Kamala Harris is going to cut your taxes.

Kamala Harris is going to take on big Pharma if you're hoping to buy a home.

Kamala Harris is going to help make it more affordable.

The DNC closes out tonight with a speech from Kamala Harris as she accepts the Democratic nomination, we can expect to hear about her economic agenda and vision if elected president.