Uncertainty About Yellen Speech May Weigh On Wall Street - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - Stocks may move to the downside in early trading on Thursday, adding to the losses posted in the previous session. The major index futures are currently pointing to a lower open for the markets, with the Dow futures down by 36 points.

The downward momentum for the markets comes as traders continue to look ahead to a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen on Friday.

Yellen is due to speak at the Kansas City Fed's monetary policy symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and traders are likely to look for clues about the outlook for interest rates in her remarks.

However, analysts have noted the speech entitled "Designing Resilient Monetary Policy Frameworks for the Future" may focus more on the long-term.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department recently released a report showing a stronger than expected rebound in durable goods orders in the month of July.

The Commerce Department said durable goods orders surged up by 4.4 percent in July after tumbling by a revised 4.2 percent in June.

Economists had expected orders to climb by about 3.7 percent compared to the 4.0 percent slump that had been reported for the previous month.

Excluding a jump in orders for transportation equipment, durable goods orders rose by 1.5 percent in July after edging down by 0.3 percent in June. Ex-transportation orders had been expected to tick up by 0.5 percent.

A separate report from the Labor Department unexpectedly showed another modest drop in initial jobless claims in the week ended August 20th.

The report said initial jobless claims edged down to 261,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week's unrevised level of 262,000. Economists had expected claims to rise to 265,000.

Stocks moved mostly lower over the course of the trading day on Wednesday, more than offsetting the modest uptick seen in the previous session. Selling pressure picked up as the day progressed, dragging the major averages firmly into negative territory.

The major averages climbed off their lows for the session going into the close but remained in the red. The Dow fell 65.82 points or 0.4 percent to 18,481.48, the Nasdaq slid 42.38 points or 0.8 percent to 5,217.69 and the S&P 500 dropped 11.46 points or 0.5 percent to 2,175.44.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific closed mixed once again on Thursday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index dipped by 0.3 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index inched up by less than a tenth of a percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index has edged down by 0.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.7 percent and the German DAX Index is down by 0.9 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil is slipping $0.13 to $46.64 a barrel after tumbling $1.33 to $46.77 a barrel in the previous session. Gold futures are currently trading at $1,321.90 an ounce, down $7.80 from the previous session's close of $1,329.70 an ounce. On Wednesday, gold slumped $16.40. On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 100.54 yen compared to the 100.45 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Wednesday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $1.1291 compared to yesterday's $1.1264.