Interest Rates: Points and Policy Makers

interest rates: How are the major benchmarks faring The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -2.37% rose 49.51 points or 0.2%, at 26,252.24, powered in large part by 4.2% gain in shares of Boeing, according to Market Watch. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 SPX, -2.59% slipped 1.48 points, or less than 0.1%, to 2,922.95, while the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, -3.00% gave up 28.82 points to 7,991.38, a decline of 0.4%. All three benchmarks finished well off their worst levels of the session, after the Dow at one moment fell by 186 points. Some Federal Reserve officials also disappointed investors hoping for confirmation that policy makers will cut interest rates again next month, but the focus on Friday will be on a speech by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole conference in Wyoming. Read Stocks say the consumer isn't as strong as government data suggests What's driving the market From Jackson Hole, Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan said he was open to more interest-rates cuts but stopped short of full-throated support for further rate reductions. Of that group, only George is a voter on the Fed's rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee this year but their commentary points to a divergence of opinion around monetary policy that Powell will need to reconcile when the Fed next gathers Sept. 17-18. However, Kansas City Fed President Esther George and Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, said on CNBC that they would like to hold interest rates steady. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.