Major U.S. stock averages fell Thursday as investors sought insight about interest rates from the Federal Reserve's Jackson Hole Economic Symposium beginning in Wyoming.

The S&P 500 (SP500) was -0.3%, the Nasdaq Composite (COMP:IND) -0.6%, and the Dow (DJI) -0.3% after darting between small losses and gains. Seven of the S&P 500 (SP500) 11 sectors were lower, with Information Technology (XLK) lagging other decliners. Energy (XLE) topped advancers and were slightly higher.

With investors eager to see the policymakers begin cutting interest rates next month, they are seeking signals from the Fed's Jackson Hole gathering about the potential size of the first interest rate cut since the central bank pushed the benchmark rate to 5.25%-5.5% in 2022-2023.

Standard Chartered said the Fed's dovish minutes from its July meeting opened the door for a 50-basis point rate cut. Major equity indexes ended higher Wednesday after the Fed's July meeting minutes indicated policymakers were on course to begin cutting interest rates in a matter of weeks.

Rabobank said Fed Chair Jerome Powell at his Jackson Hole speech on Friday is likely to signal a 25bps rate cut for next month. "The recent deterioration in economic data has raised our confidence that the U.S. economy is sliding into a recession or at least a significant slowdown in the second half of the year," Rabobank Senior U.S. Strategist Philip Marey said in a Wednesday note.

Initial jobless claims have recently soothed recession fears in the equity market. On Thursday, initial claims for the week ended Aug. 17 rose less than expected, by 4K to 232K, compared with the 234K consensus.

Existing home sales increased 1.3% M/M in July to 3.95M versus the 3.900M consensus estimate.

Among individual stocks, Snowflake (SNOW) -13% with analysts remaining cautious after the cloud-computing company's second quarter results for fiscal 2025 beat estimates.