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On Thursday, Eastern Time, although there were calls for interest rate cuts, the three major U.S. stock indexes closed down collectively, dragged down by technology stocks, and the market focused on the Jackson Hole Global Central Bank Annual Meeting.

Scott Ladner, chief investment officer at Horizon Investments, commented: "There doesn't seem to be any clear catalyst driving the market sell-off. It could be a temporary exit before Nvidia's earnings report next week or a search for safety before Fed Chairman Powell's speech."

Central bankers from around the world gather in Jackson Hole for an annual economic symposium, and investors will be watching Powell's speech on Friday for clues on the timing and extent of the Fed's policy easing cycle.

Ladner added that Powell is expected to reassure the market that the Fed will cut rates in September but be vague on whether it will be a 25 basis point or 50 basis point cut. "Powell will say that he expects to start cutting rates slowly but will also emphasize that they can move faster if they do see further weakness in the job market."

After a sharp downward revision to nonfarm payrolls on Wednesday, news of an increase in initial jobless claims in the United States seemed to confirm that the job market was not as strong as expected and was gradually weakening.

Two Federal Reserve officials said on Thursday it would be appropriate for the central bank to start easing monetary policy sooner rather than later, but the pace of subsequent rate cuts should be "gradual" and "methodical."

Boston Fed President Collins and Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker used similar language in two separate interviews, but they did not specify how often they would cut rates.

Bharat Ramamurti, former deputy director of the White House National Economic Council, said the Fed "made a mistake" by not cutting interest rates in July and "should strongly consider the possibility of a 50 basis point cut in September."

In addition, Sam, the originator of the "Sam Rule" and former Federal Reserve economist, also claimed that given that the Federal Reserve should have cut interest rates by 25 basis points in July, this means there is absolutely reason to cut interest rates by 50 basis points in September.

Market Dynamics

As of the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 177.71 points, or 0.43%, to 40,712.78; the Nasdaq fell 299.63 points, or 1.67%, to 17,619.35; and the S&P 500 fell 50.21 points, or 0.89%, to 5,570.64.

The 11 sectors of the S&P 500 index generally closed lower, with the information technology/technology sector down 2.13%, the discretionary consumer sector down 1.87%, the telecommunications sector down 0.93%, the energy sector up 0.32%, the smallest increase, and the financial sector up about 0.5%.

Most U.S. stock industry ETFs closed lower, with the semiconductor ETF down more than 3%, the technology industry ETF and the global technology stock ETF down more than 2% each, the consumer discretionary ETF down more than 1.5%, the Internet stock index ETF and the biotechnology index ETF also down more than 1%, and the financial industry ETF and the banking industry ETF up about 0.5% each.

Hot Stock Performance

Large technology stocks fell across the board, with Tesla down 5.65%, Nvidia down 3.7%, Amazon down 2.21%, Microsoft down 2.03%, Google A down 1.24%, Apple down 0.83%, and Meta down 0.6%.

Intel fell 6.12% after the company's director Lip-Bu Tan resigned from the board, having joined it in September 2022.

Monkeypox epidemic-related stocks generally fell, with GeoVax Labs down 12.34%, Emergent BioSolutions down 9.44%, and SIGA Technologies down 4.89%.

Interactive fitness platform Peloton rose 35.42%, its biggest one-day gain since its U.S. IPO. The company's sales growth resumed for the first time in nine quarters, indicating that its turnaround plan is paying off.

Zoom Video Communications closed up 13%, its best one-day performance since September 2022. The company's second-quarter results exceeded expectations and raised its full-year revenue and earnings outlook.

Most of the popular Chinese stocks fell, with the Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index falling 1.52%. iQiyi fell more than 15%, NetEase fell more than 11%, Bilibili fell more than 7%, Baidu fell more than 4%, and Xpeng Motors fell more than 2%.

Company News

[Apple will allow EU users to delete default applications such as Safari to comply with EU requirements]

Apple says it is making changes to the browser selection screen, default apps, and app removal for iOS and iPadOS users in the EU to comply with the European Commission's Digital Markets Act. All EU users who have Safari set as their default browser will see an updated selection screen. A default apps section will appear in settings for some iOS users. More default apps, including the App Store, Messages, Photos, Camera, and Safari, will now be removable. The changes will be completed by the end of the year.

[Perplexity plans to start advertising in the fourth quarter]

Artificial intelligence (AI) search startup Perplexity AI announced on Thursday that it plans to put ads on its search app in the fourth quarter. According to people familiar with the matter, Perplexity will adopt a model called CPM (cost per thousand impressions) for advertising, and the price will be more than $50. Perplexity said in its pitch materials that its main advertising categories will initially include topics such as technology, health and pharmaceuticals, arts and entertainment, finance, and food and beverages. Advertisers will be able to sponsor "related questions" below the answers and buy display ads to the right of the answers.

[US FDA approves updated COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna]

On Thursday, Eastern Time, amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved new versions of Pfizer and Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines to better respond to the current COVID-19 strains. According to the FDA, the new vaccine targets a variant called KP.2, which is the third-generation subbranch of the novel coronavirus Omicron JN.1 variant and a subbranch of the JN.1 variant with a stronger transmission advantage. Pfizer and Moderna said their vaccine against KP.2 can produce a stronger immune response and can also fight other JN.1 subbranches that are still spreading, such as KP.3 and LB.1.

[Nestle appoints new CEO Mark Schneider to leave]

On August 22, local time, Nestlé announced that the board of directors appointed Laurent Freixe, current executive vice president and CEO of Latin America (LATAM), as the company's CEO, effective September 1. Mark Schneider has decided to give up his position as CEO and board member and will leave the company.

[Another Tesla executive leaves as core electric vehicle business faces uncertainty]

While Musk is keen on rockets, AI and actively participating in the US election, executives who have worked with him for more than a decade to build Tesla's electric car empire are leaving the company to find new challenges. The latest case is Sreela Venkataratnam, Tesla's vice president of finance and operations. She posted on the workplace social media platform on Wednesday that she had left Tesla after 11 years. Venkataratnam recalled that she joined Tesla as director of financial operations in 2013. At that time, the company could only deliver less than 3,000 cars a year and its market value was only $4 billion. Now the car delivery volume has reached 1.8 million and the market value has reached $700 billion.