stock futures were flat in overnight trading tuesday as investors await more guidance from federal reserve chairman jerome powell on the central banks tightening path futures on the dow jones industrial average dipped just 15 points sp 500 futures and nasdaq 100 futures were both little changed both the dow and the sp 500 declined for a third straight session tuesday amid relatively thin trading volumes the techheavy nasdaq composite finished tuesday little changed the sp 500 is about flat on the month after rallying more than 9 in july the threeday jackson hole economic symposium starts thursday with powell slated to speak friday morning fed watchers expect him to reinforce the central banks goal of squashing inflation and keeping expectations about future prices gains in check financial markets will remain in choppy waters until fed chair powells jackson hole speech on friday said edward moya senior market analyst at oanda he may struggle to convince markets that he is comfortable with tightening policy and triggering a recession the economy is clearly slowing but it is still too early for the fed to signal that they will be less aggressive with tightening policy investors will also monitor incoming data to gauge the health of the economy durable goods and pending home sales are on deck for wednesday