US pre-open: Powell's Jackson Hole speech continues to lift stocks

Wall Street futures were slightly higher ahead of the bell on Monday as market participants cheered news that the Federal Reserve appeared to be on the cusp of making interest rate cuts.

As of 1210 BST, Dow Jones futures were up 0.07%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.15% and 0.10% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 462.30 points higher on Friday after comments from Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell at the central bank's Jackson Hole economic symposium that indicated he thought now might finally be the time to look at cutting benchmark interest rates.

While Powell did not say when the Fed would look to cut rates, or by how much, traders seem to be convinced that the central bank will make a move at its September policy meeting.

As far as Monday was concerned, macro headlines will come in the form of July's durable goods orders at 1330 BST and the Dallas Federal Reserve's August manufacturing business index at 1530 BST.

No major corporate earnings were slated for release on Monday.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com