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- Wall St set for subdued start, focus on retail earnings, Jackson Hole summit</p>
<p>Johann M Cherian and Sanchayaita RoyAugust 18, 2025 at 8:16 PM</p>
<p>By Johann M Cherian and Sanchayaita Roy</p>
<p>(Reuters) -Wall Street's main indexes were set for a muted open on Monday - in a quiet start to a week packed with corporate earnings reports from major retailers and the Federal Reserve's annual symposium in Jackson Hole.</p>
<p>Investors also remained wary ahead of a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Kyiv's conflict with Moscow. Trump has told Ukraine to give up hopes of getting back annexed Crimea or joining NATO, but will push for a peace deal with Russia.</p>
<p>Wall Street's main indexes rallied over the past two weeks, with the blue-chip Dow hitting an intra-day record high on Friday, aided by interest rate cut expectations and a better-than-expected earnings season despite an uncertain trade environment.</p>
<p>Investors will closely monitor reports from Walmart, Home Depot and Target among others, which are expected this week, to determine how trade uncertainty and inflation expectations have affected U.S. consumer.</p>
<p>Data on Friday showed that while retail sales were increasing broadly as anticipated, consumer sentiment overall had taken a hit from mounting inflation fears.</p>
<p>"A lot of orders were pulled forward from a lot of retailers and companies that are producing product. So from an earnings standpoint, most likely they're going to be in line and if there is a beat, it might be slight," said Michael Matousek, head trader at U.S. Global Investors.</p>
<p>At 08:45 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 6 points, or 0.01%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 6.75 points, or 0.10% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 36.75 points, or 0.15%.</p>
<p>Investors continue to price in a 25-basis-point cut from the Federal Reserve next month, although they have lowered their expectations for another rate cut this year, according to data compiled by LSEG.</p>
<p>Recent data has also suggested that while U.S. tariffs have not filtered into headline consumer prices yet, jobs market weakness could nudge the central bank to take a more dovish stance.</p>
<p>Markets hope that the Fed's Jackson Hole, Wyoming conference between August 21 and 23, where Chair Jerome Powell is expected to speak, could offer more clarity on the economic outlook and the central bank's policy framework.</p>
<p>On the trade front, the Trump administration widened the reach of its 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports by adding hundreds of derivative products to the list of goods subject to the levies.</p>
<p>Among early movers, UnitedHealth rose 2.8% in premarket trading, building on its nearly 12% jump in the previous session.</p>
<p>Crypto stocks such as Strategy and Coinbase declined 1% and 1.7%, respectively, tracking a 2% drop in bitcoin prices.</p>
<p>Markets were also assessing multiple deals on the mergers and acquisitions front.</p>
<p>Dayforce surged 25.7% after a report said PE firm Thoma Bravo is in talks to acquire the HR management software firm, while Soho House jumped 16.3% as another report said a group of investors led by New York-based MCR Hotels is nearing a deal to take the members' club operator private.</p>
<p>(Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Sanchayaita Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)</p>
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