The Federal Reserve's annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, is underway, with a keynote speech at 10 a.m. New York time by Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Traders are hoping for signs the central bank will cut interest rates next month.

Stock-index futures are ticking higher in advance of the Powell speech. US Treasuries held steady after Thursday's losses, with the 10-year yield at 4.33%.

Traders are paring back on rate bets before Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole conference, with strong PMI data adding to the case for economic resilience. Swaps now show ~75% odds for a September cut, and there's a small chance for only one reduction this year. Fed Chicago President Austan Goolsbee said he hopes one “dangerous” inflation data point is just a blip.

Caution prevailed on Wall Street ahead of Jerome Powell's speech at Jackson Hole on Friday, with stocks falling and bond yields rising as a key factory report raised concern that inflation pressures could dim the outlook for rate cuts.

Warnings on defaults are starting to pile up in the $1.7 trillion private credit market, prompting at least some analysts to raise concern about underappreciated risks in one of Wall Street's favorite money spinners.