US equities add to Wednesday's losses ahead of Jackson Hole

Major US equity indices added to their losses from the prior session and opened lower on Thursday as investors seemed nervous ahead of the Fed’s annual Jackson Hole conference. The Fed Chair Janet Yellen's speech will be closely scrutinized to evaluate the possibilities of an eventual Fed rate-hike decision and possible timing of such an action.

During early trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 14 point to 18, 468 while the broader S&P 500 shed 3 point to 2,173. Tech heavy, Nasdaq Composite Index was down 7 points to 5210. 

A duo of strong US economic data released on Thursday fueled speculation of an eventual Fed rate-hike move, sooner rather than later, and is weighing on investor sentiment.  Weekly jobless benefits claims fell to 261,000, while monthly durable-goods orders jumped 4.4% in July.

Ahead of the highly anticipated Yellen's speech on Friday, Kansas City Fed President Ester George cranked up the rhetoric in favor of higher interest rates as the incoming US economic data has been supportive of a rate-hike. George is a voting member of the policy-setting FOMC, which is set to meet on September 20-21.

Major central banks across the world have adopted ultra-loose monetary policy stance that has been an important supportive pillar of the multi-year rally in equity markets. Hence, investors now worry that beginning of rate tightening cycle might lead to a slump in equity markets.

The big question, however, remains if the Fed would go ahead and raise interest-rates in September, which eventually increases the importance of Yellen speech on Friday. Strong hawkish signals would shoot up expectations of September rate-hike and hit equity markets in the near-term.