US stocks test record highs as Powell says 'the time has come for policy to adjust'

• US stocks tested record highs as Fed chairman Jerome Powell delivered his speech at Jackson Hole.
• Powell said the downside risks to the jobs market outweigh inflation risks.
• "The time has come for policy to adjust," Powell said, confirming imminent interest rate cuts.

US stocks tested record highs on Friday as Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell delivered remarks at the Jackson Hole economic symposium.

Powell said "the time has come for policy to adjust" as the downside risks to the job market outweigh the upside risks to inflation.

"The cooling in labor market conditions is unmistakable," Powell said, adding that labor market conditions today are less tight than just before the pandemic in 2019, when the inflation rate was below 2%.

"We do not seek or welcome further cooling in labor market conditions," Powell said.

The S&P 500 surged about 1% to 5,640, less than a half-percent below its all-time intraday high of 5,669, while the 10-year US Treasury yield dropped five basis points to 3.80%.

With interest rate cuts all but confirmed for September, the main question among investors is how aggressively the Fed will cut rates.

Comments from Fed President Susan Collins said that rate cuts from the Fed should be "gradual" and that she is mainly focused on "preserving that healthy labor market while we continue to bring inflation down."

Meanwhile, Fed President Raphael Bostic told CNBC on Friday that "we are close to being ready to cut rates," adding that "we can't wait until inflation is back down to 2% to alter the policy rate."

Of note about Powell's Jackson Hole speech, according to Renaissance Macro Research, is that it didn't include the word "gradual."

"Unlike some of the speakers yesterday, Powell is not removing the optionality of doing large moves as policy adjusts," the firm wrote in a tweet on Friday.

The CME FedWatch Tool suggests the Fed will launch its first interest rate cut at its September FOMC meeting and ultimately cut rates by nearly 100 basis points by the end of the year.

"The S&P 500's track record after the past few Jackson Hole conferences has been uninspiring," Interactive Brokers chief strategist Steve Sosnick said in a note on Thursday.

If Friday's surge higher holds, it could buck the trend of the stock market's reaction to Powell's previous Jackson Hole speeches.

According to Interactive Brokers chief strategist Steve Sosnick, the S&P 500 has lost an average of about 4% in one month following the past three Jackson Hole speeches.

"That may be attributable as much to September seasonality as it is to the speeches themselves, but those speeches indeed played a role in setting the tone for the weeks that follow," Sosnick said.

Here's where US indexes stood at 10:27 a.m. on Friday:

• S&P 500: 5,636.40, up 1.18%
• Dow Jones Industrial Average: 41,116.80, up 0.99% (+404.03 points)
• Nasdaq composite: 17,922.40, up 1.72%

Here's what else is going on today:

• A crypto scam crushed a Kansas bank and got its CEO sent to jail for 24 years.
• A small mining firm saw its stock soar after it discovered the world's second-largest diamond.
• Two economists explain why the Fed should cut interest rates more than expected next month.

In commodities, bonds, and crypto:

• West Texas Intermediate crude oil increased 1.66% to $74.22 a barrel. Brent crude, the international benchmark, jumped 1.41% to $78.31 a barrel.
• Gold was higher by 0.80% to $2,536.90 an ounce.
• The 10-year Treasury yield dipped five basis points to 3.804%.
• Bitcoin rose 2.38% to $61,822.