Three Federal Reserve officials appeared lukewarm on Thursday to the idea of an interest rate cut next month, as investors geared up for U.S. central bank chief Jerome Powell's speech to the annual Jackson Hole conference in Wyoming.

Wall Street will be listening closely to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech Friday at the Jackson Hole economic policy summit, where he could signal whether the central bank is ready to cut borrowing costs at its next meeting in September.

Economists have long preferred independent central banks because they can more easily take unpopular steps to fight inflation.

Donald Trump is taking aim at a familiar adversary. The president complained about Jerome Powell in a new post on Tuesday night after weeks of back-and-forth surrounding the Federal Reserve chair. Trump claimed on Truth Social that Powell is “hurting” the housing industry “very badly”.

TRADING DAY Making sense of the forces driving global markets By Jamie McGeever, Markets Columnist U.S. stocks fell on Thursday and the dollar and Treasury yields rose, as solid factory data cast a bit more doubt on the Fed's readiness to lower interest rates next month.