Wall Street ends on muted note ahead of Jackson Hole summit, retailers' earnings

Wall Street ends on muted note ahead of Jackson Hole summit, retailers' earnings

By Johann M Cherian, Sanchayaita Roy and Carolina Mandl

Mon August 18, 2025 4:57 PM

Just like last Monday, there’s a whole lot coming down the pike this week. Some real heavy hitters like Walmart and Target are reporting Q2 and the Fed’s annual symposium at Jackson Hole has everyone in wait-and-see mode. There’s also today’s bad news of no concrete outcome in the Ukraine peace talks, the housing market index falling to its lowest since December 2022, and though there is still a virtual 100% expectation of a ¼ point rate cut next month, the odds of more cuts later this year have today been lowered.  

It is still hoped that, though higher prices have not yet shown up too obviously due to tariffs, the weakening job numbers will be enough for make the Fed more dovish. All in all, it was a quiet day with the indexes closing near a wash though the Dow was down about 80 points mid-day, the Nasdaq down about 60. The Dow did briefly hit a new record intraday on Friday. Per the CBOE, volume came in at 15.2 billion, 3 billion under the 18.2 average which reflects the wait-and-see sentiment. 

DJ: 44,946.12  +34.86      NAS: 21,622.98  -87.69       S&P: 6,449.80  -18.74          8/15

DJ: 44,911.82  -34.30       NAS: 21,629.77  +6.80        S&P: 6,449.15  -0.65           8/18

Mon 8-18-25 4:57 pm Wall Street ends on muted note ahead of Jackson Hole summit, retailers' earnings | Reuters