NEW YORK: US stocks opened slightly lower Tuesday as traders consolidated recent gains and looked ahead to a key speech from Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell later in the week.

Powell is widely expected to keep the prospect of a September start to interest rate cuts alive during his keynote address to the annual gathering of central bankers and economists in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and could provide clues on the path and speed of cuts going forward.

Shortly after markets opened, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.1 percent at 40,974.00, while the S&P 500 was down by the same amount at 5,626.25.

Wall St drifts higher with focus on Jackson Hole meet

The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite was down 0.2 percent at 19,813, a day after it jumped by 1.4 percent amid a market comeback.

“We’ve only had one down day since August 5,” Adam Sarhan, from 50 Park Investments, told AFP. “So after a big move up, it’s perfectly normal and healthy to see the market pause and consolidate that move, and that’s what’s happening now.”

Among individual stocks, Palo Alto Networks was up more than six percent after beating earnings expectations, while the home improvement company Lowe’s fell around one percent before paring some losses on disappointing quarterly results.

Powell is set to speak on Friday.