EDITOR'S NOTE
Stocks pulled back on Thursday as investors turned their attention toward the Federal Reserve’s annual Jackson Hole economic policy symposium.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 192.38 points to 35,213,12, as Boeing’s stock dropped roughly 2%. The S&P 500 fell 0.5% to 4,470.00, and the Nasdaq Composite ticked 0.6% lower to 14,945.81 after both averages notched record closes in the previous session. The small-cap Russell 2000 was the relative underperformer, slipping 1.1%.
Investors will be waiting for updates on the central bank’s plans to eventually taper monetary stimulus on Friday. The Fed is buying $120 billion a month in Treasury bonds and mortgage-backed securities. Chairman Jerome Powell is slated to make remarks on Friday as part of the Fed’s summit.
“Every Fed change in monetary policy is important,” said Priya Misra, global head of rates strategy for TD Securities. “But I think it’s particularly more meaningful today because we know growth is slowing and the Fed is trying to exit.” 
Esther George, president of the Kansas City Fed, told CNBC Thursday morning that “given the progress we’ve seen,” Fed tapering is “appropriate,” though she didn’t specify when she thinks it should start.
“When you look at the job gains we saw last month, the month before, you look at the level of inflation right now, I think it would suggest that the level of accommodation we’re providing right now is probably not needed in this scenario,” she said. “So I would be ready to talk about taper sooner rather than later.”
In terms of the labor market, weekly initial jobless claims came in at 353,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday, a slight increase from the prior week’s 349,000 and more than the 350,000 estimate from economists polled by Dow Jones. TOP NEWS
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