The stock market is heading into a catalyst-filled week as Fed Chair Jerome Powell gets ready to speak at Jackson Hole and big retailers report earnings.

The U.S. dollar was little changed on Wednesday as traders awaited a speech from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell at the annual Jackson Hole central bankers' symposium later this week for clues on the path of monetary policy.

Jerome Powell has the ideal platform Friday to deliver a clear signal the Federal Reserve is about to resume cutting interest rates. But the economy isn’t giving him an equally clear signal that now is the time.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's upcoming speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium on Friday is being billed as a pivotal, "make-or-break" moment for the central bank's more dovish contingent.

The Nasdaq fell as megacaps lost, after having rallied for much of the year. Nvidia fell 3.5%, the biggest drop in nearly four months.

By Howard Schneider WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Fed Chair Jerome Powell used the central bank's annual Wyoming research conference to promise inflation-fighting rigor when it was needed in 2022, then last year he came to the defense of the job market with promises of lower interest rates when the unemployment rate seemed on a steady rise.