Stock Futures Jump Ahead of Fed Comments

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) sport a triple-digit premarket lead, as investors anxiously await Fed Chair Jerome Powell's appearance at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium in Wyoming. Meanwhile, futures tied to the S&P 500 Index (SPX) and the Nasdaq-100 Index (NDX) sport more modest leads, with both indexes headed for weekly wins. 

Continue reading for more on today's market, including: 

• Blue-chip apparel maker logged record losing streak.
• Don't miss the data slated to wrap up August.
• Plus, 2 earnings reports to unpack, and AMC's stock conversion.

5 Things You Need to Know Today

1. The Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE) saw more than 1.3 million call and 1 million put contracts exchanged on Thursday. The single-session equity put/call ratio fell to 0.79 and the 21-day moving average stayed at 0.65.
2. Marvell Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MRVL) stock is 3.6% higher premarket, after the company just barely topped analysts' quarterly earnings and revenue expectations. Year to date, MRVL is up 54.7%.
3. Affirm Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:AFRM) is up 7.9% in electronic trading, and looking to extend its 42% year-to-date lead. This comes after the online payment concern saw fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and revenue beat forecasts, as well as a stronger-than-expected fiscal first-quarter revenue guidance. 
4. Popular meme stock AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE:AMC) is 83% lower over the last 12 months, but sports a 0.6% lead before the bell. This comes ahead of the company's anticipated stock conversion, which is set for today's trading. 
5. Consumer sentiment data is coming out today.

Asian Markets Mimic Yesterday's Stateside Fall

Asian stocks mimicked their Western counterparts today, falling across the board ahead of Powell’s remarks at Jackson Hole. Japan’s Nikkei paced the region with a 2.1% drop, even after the core inflation rate for Tokyo came in lower than analyst expectations. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.5%, while South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.7% and China’s Shanghai Composite finished flat.

Over in Europe, markets are inching higher. The DAX is 0.6% higher at last check, despite German business sentiment falling across the board for August. London’s FTSE 100 is up 0.7% and the French CAC sports a 0.9% lead, respectively.