Wall St ends lower as tech shares weigh

STORY: U.S. socks fell across the board Thursday as all of the megacap technology stocks in the Magnificent 7 lost ground.

The Dow slid four tenths of one percent, the S&P 500 dropped about nine tenths and the tech-heavy Nasdaq finished down nearly one point seven percent.

The declines come ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech Friday in Jackson Hole at the central bank’s annual economic symposium there.

He is expected to assure the markets that the Fed will cut interest rates in September.

Traders see a 75% chance of a 25 basis point reduction then and just a 25% percent chance of a 50 basis point cut according to CME’s FedWatch Tool.

FBB Capital Partners President Mike Mussio says investors will be paying close attention to Powell's speech.

“What we think investors should be listening for tomorrow from Fed Chair Powell is a tone that supports a trajectory of rate cuts at a pace that is reasonable, that would support a soft-landing type of path for the economy. If they hear anything that seems a little bit more concerning and that might be supported by the support of a 50-basis point cut, I think participants could get a little bit jittery that the Fed is seeing something in the data that maybe you know we aren't.”

Stocks on the move included Zoom Video Communications which jumped 13% after raising its annual revenue forecast.

And Urban Outfitters plunged 9.6% after the apparel retailer posted quarterly same-store-sales growth that missed forecasts