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For the 47th year, economists and central bankers descend on Jackson Hole, Wyo., on Thursday as the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank hosts its annual economic symposium.

The Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium will run through Saturday. During that time, the estimated 120 international participants will discuss the theme of “Reassessing the Effectiveness and Transmission of Monetary Policy.” The topic is particularly salient for U.S. central bankers, as Federal Reserve officials are monitoring economic data to help determine their next policy steps.

The Federal Reserve has held its influential fed funds rate at a two-decade high for more than a year in an effort to discourage borrowing and, in turn, quash inflation. As inflation has moved closer to the Fed's annual goal of 2%, the labor market has weakened and fears of a recession have reignited.

As a result, central bankers have turned their attention to the jobs side of their dual mandate. The Federal Reserve is widely expected to cut its interest rates at its next meeting in September.

Like many of his colleagues, Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid told CNBC in an interview this week, opening the symposium, that he would let the data lead his decisions and would not commit to a rate cut timeline.

"I have learned that there's a perfection of how the labor market works relative to the inflation numbers. There's a healthy friction in the two," Schmid said. "I still believe quite strongly that we really need to trend this inflation number toward 2%; it has to be sustainable. Having the labor market cool some is helping that, but there's still work to do."

Committee members' reluctance to provide a specific timing of rate cuts has only further piqued investor interest in what Fed Chair Jerome Powell will say at the event on Friday morning.

Goldman Sachs analysts said Powell's remarks from Jackson Hole have affected markets in the past. However, analysts have noted that since a rate cut has already been priced into the market, Powell's comments likely won't be as impactful this year.

Economists don't expect Powell to confirm that the central bank will cut rates in September. Rather, they expect him to largely echo his remarks delivered in a press conference following the Fed's last meeting in July with a few updates.

"We expect Powell to express a bit more confidence in the inflation outlook and to put a bit more emphasis on downside risks in the labor market than in his press conference after the July FOMC meeting," wrote Goldman analysts.

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Intel (INTC) shares sank 6.1% on Thursday following reports that the semiconductor giant's progress on constructing two new chip fabrication facilities in Germany may be stalled.

The company plans to build the wafer fabrication plants in Magdeburg, Germany, on the site it calls "Silicon Junction." In June 2023, Intel announced it was increasing its investment in the project to around $33 billion, having secured a government subsidy of around $11 billion to support the construction.

Intel expected the Magdeburg plants to be online and producing high-performance semiconductors as soon as 2027. However, according to media reports this week, the schedule now appears uncertain.

Some investors have expressed concerns that, as Intel targets significant cost reductions, the company may choose not to move forward with the plans in Germany.

Intel typically focuses its fabrication capacity on producing its own chips, but the company has been working to expand its third-party fabrication services to drive growth. Given the high costs involved in constructing fabrication facilities, it remains to be seen how the capital-intensive expansion of contract fab services will fit into Intel's restructuring and cost-cutting initiatives, according to .

Skepticism about Intel's fabrication plants in Germany follows the news that chipmaking rival Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) has broken ground on its own $11 billion facility in Dresden.

Following Thursday's losses, Intel shares are down about 60% so far in 2024.

The year-to-date losses distinguish Intel stock from many peers in the semiconductor industry that have been lifted by artificial intelligence (AI) expectations. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) is up more than 20% this year.

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Major U.S. equities indexes fell Thursday as the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium kicked off in Wyoming. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak just after the markets open on Friday morning, and his remarks will be under the microscope as investors gauge the timing and magnitude of potential interest rate cuts.

The S&P 500 was down 0.9%, while the Dow slipped 0.4%. Underperformance from large tech stocks weighed on the Nasdaq, which dropped 1.7% on the day.

Shares of Moderna (MRNA) lost 6.5%, marking Thursday's weakest performance in the S&P 500. The share price drop coincided with the approval of Moderna's vaccine to protect against new strains of COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends an updated shot for all people over the age of 6 months, and Moderna expects the new version to be available within a few days. However, at the beginning of August, the company lowered its full-year sales forecast, citing soft vaccine demand in Europe.

Intel (INTC) shares sank 6.1% following reports questioning the semiconductor giant's progress on the construction of two new chip fabrication plants in Germany. The company received a government subsidy of around $11 billion for the construction of the facilities, with the objective of having them online and producing chips by 2027. However, that schedule now appears uncertain. Some investors have expressed concerns that, as Intel targets significant cost reductions, the company may choose not to move forward with the plans in Germany.

Tesla (TSLA) Vice President Sreela Venkataratnam announced that she would be the latest in a string of executives to step down from the company, and shares of the electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer declined 5.7%. In an 11-year stint at Tesla, Venkataratnam was involved in constructing factories, accelerating vehicle production, and expanding the energy business.

Shares of investment manager Franklin Resources (BEN) added 4.6%, the best performance of any stock in the S&P 500. Thursday's gains reversed a portion of the heavy losses posted in the previous session after the firm said the co-chief investment officer (CIO) of its Western Asset Management unit was taking a leave of absence. The executive's exit came amid internal and regulatory investigations into certain past trade allocations at the division.

Nordson (NDSN), which provides coating and adhesive systems to various industries, reported better-than-expected sales and profits for its fiscal third quarter, and its shares advanced 3.3%. Momentum in the company's Industrial Precision Solutions segment, as well as sales growth in Asia-Pacific and Europe, helped drive the strong performance.

Shares of State Street (STT) ticked 2.2% higher as the financial services firm announced a partnership with the Swiss digital asset platform Taurus. The deal will help State Street provide reliable digital asset capabilities to its clients by leveraging Taurus' custody, tokenization, and node-management solutions.

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Stocks slipped on Thursday as Wall Street waited to hear what Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell would say at the Fed’s annual Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium, which this year comes at a critical turning point for the central bank. 

Powell is scheduled to speak Friday morning, less than a month before the Fed enters a policy meeting at which it is expected to lower interest rates for the first time in more than four years.

Wall Street is all but certain the Fed will cut rates in September, and has recently upped its rate cut expectations in response to signs of a slowing economy and a shift in Fed officials' tone. 

As of Thursday, markets anticipate the Fed will cut rates by about 100 basis points (bps), or 1 percentage point, by the end of the year, according to federal funds rate futures trading data. With only three meetings left in the year, that implies at least one cut of 50bps, a likelihood officials have largely dismissed. 

Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said in an interview with the on Monday that he didn’t see any reason to lower rates by more than 25bps at any meeting this year, given the relative stability of layoffs and unemployment claims.

Powell, who has repeatedly emphasized the need for the Fed’s decisions to be “data dependent,” is unlikely to offer any forecast of the timing and speed of interest rate cuts.

“He's not going to lock himself in” to any policy path, said Quincy Krosby, Chief Global Strategist at LPL Financial. 

The Fed finds itself walking the tightrope of keeping inflation on a downward trajectory without allowing the labor market to break under the pressure of tight monetary policy. Officials have, in recent commentary, acknowledged they’re becoming equally concerned about both components of their dual mandate. 

The labor market has become a focal point for Fed watchers ever since data earlier this month showed the unemployment rate rose from 4.1% to 4.3% in July, a jump that surprised most economists. The jobs data led some to wonder whether the Fed had put itself behind the curve when it left rates unchanged just days before the report. 

The Fed elected at its July meeting to leave the benchmark fed funds rate at a 23-year high, where it has been for a year. Though minutes from that meeting, published on Wednesday, revealed officials have taken a more dovish tone. 

“Several” policymakers noted that progress on inflation and an uptick in the unemployment rate “had provided a plausible case” for cutting rates at the July meeting. 

Though the committee members were ultimately unanimous in their decision to leave rates unchanged, “the vast majority observed that, if the data continued to come in about as expected, it would likely be appropriate to ease policy at the next meeting.”

While several economists have noted that July’s jobs report may not be the harbinger of doom it appeared to be, the labor market will likely continue to be a wild card that could shake up financial markets. 

If there is any change in “what [Powell] telegraphs that differs from what we saw in the minutes, what we've been hearing, what we've been seeing from the data, that will be extremely important for the market,” said Krosby. “Especially if anything suggests that the Fed perhaps is more worried about the labor market.”

However, Krosby pointed out, markets are attuned to both the risk of inflation sticking and the Fed’s interest in preventing that outcome. 

“They’re always on guard about inflation, particularly this Fed,” Krosby said. “They don't want a repeat of the failure of the monetary policy in the late 70s and early 80s, which was a stop and go, stop and go, policy that actually allowed stagflation to become entrenched.”

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President Bola Tinubu on Friday, August 23, swore in Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun as Chief Justice of the Federation to replace Justice Olukayode Ariwoola.

The swearing-in ceremony took place at the Council Chambers of the State House in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

Justice Kekere-Ekun succeeds Justice Olukayode Ariwoola, who bowed out on Thursday after clocking the retirement age of 70 years.

Justice Kekere-Ekun is the second female CJN, the first being Aloma Mariam Mukhtar GCON, who served from July 2012 to November 2014.

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Williams-Sonoma Inc. (WSM), a household name in America for high-end kitchenware and modern furnishings, started out as a small hardware store in Sonoma, California.

Company founder Chuck Williams first moved to Sonoma in 1947, where he began working as a contractor and fell in with a group of friends who shared his love of cooking. A trip to Europe in 1953 was the catalyst that transformed his passion into a vocation. During his travels, Williams was introduced to classic French cooking equipment unlike anything he had seen back in America. One year later, he purchased a hardware store in downtown Sonoma, and soon after transformed it into a shop specializing in French cookware. Williams-Sonoma was born.

Not long after, the company began selling high-end items for homes of all kinds. Benefitting from the changes in dining and food culture during the '60s and '70s, Williams-Sonoma continued to expand in size. The company caught the eye of entrepreneur Howard Lester, who purchased the company with a friend in 1976 and assumed the role of chief executive officer (CEO). In 1982, Williams-Sonoma raised financing through an initial public offering (IPO) to accelerate its expansion.

Today, the company has more than 600 stores globally and a market capitalization of $18.5 billion. For its 2024 fiscal year (FY), Williams-Sonoma reported net earnings of $949.8 million on net revenue of $7.8 billion.

As of Jan. 28, 2024, Williams-Sonoma operated 518 stores and had 138 franchised locations.

Williams-Sonoma today sells furnishings and decorative accessories for every room in the home. It also has launched distinct brands including West Elm, which offers modern furnishings and décor, Mark and Graham, an online platform for personalized gift buying, and GreenRow, which specializes in the use of sustainable materials and manufacturing practices to create vintage-inspired heirloom products. 

Williams-Sonoma has used acquisitions to complement its internal growth, although not all of them have been successful. In 1982, for example, it ventured into retail gardening by purchasing Gardener's Eden, a catalog company that sells plants, tools, and accessories. Williams-Sonoma sold that business in 1999.

Other acquisitions have proved far more successful in expanding Williams-Sonoma's reach and sales. We take a look at three of these acquisitions in more detail below. The company provides sales breakdowns for some, but not all of these deals.

Pottery Barn was established in 1949 as a home furnishings retailer focused on offering products marked by exceptional comfort, quality, style, and value. Williams-Sonoma purchased the company from Gap Inc. (GPS) in 1986. At that time, Pottery Barn had about 21 stores located mainly in Manhattan, where they sold a limited range of products. Since then, Williams-Sonoma has transformed it into a premier home furnishings retailer selling items in stores and online. Pottery Barn's products include furniture, bedding, bathroom accessories, rugs, lighting, and curtains.

Williams-Sonoma built on the Pottery Barn brand, launching Pottery Barn Kids in 1999 and then Pottery Barn Teen in 2003. The former focuses on furnishings and décor for nurseries, bedrooms, and play spaces, while the latter offers furniture, bedding, lighting, and more for teenage bedrooms, college dorm rooms, study spaces, and lounges.

The Pottery Barn and parent Williams-Sonoma brands have been built on a reputation for selling high-quality products. However, there have been criticisms, and Williams-Sonoma's image was tarnished when it was fined by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for false "Made in America" claims on certain products. This included Pottery Barn Teen and Pottery Barn Kids-branded upholstered furniture, and Goldtouch Bakeware and Rejuvenation-branded products.

Rejuvenation was founded in 1977 by two friends, Jim Kelly and Barbara Kerr, who borrowed $2,500 to open a hardware and house parts store. By 2004, the company was posting about $25 million in annual revenue, and seven years later, in 2011, it was acquired by Williams-Sonoma.

Rejuvenation, whose manufacturing and distribution facilities are located in Portland, Oregon, specializes in made-to-order lighting fixtures. The company also sells other hardware, furniture, and home décor. Rejuvenation's high-quality, specialized products complement Williams-Sonoma's brand and bolster its line of home furnishing products.

In its 10-K, Williams-Sonoma breaks down the revenues of West Elm, Williams Sonoma, Pottery Barn, and Pottery Barn Kids and Teen. All other revenues, including those generated by Rejuvenation and Outward, are reported under "other."

Outward is an enterprise technology startup founded in 2012 in San Jose, California. The company offers 3-D imaging and augmented reality specifically geared toward digital applications for the home furnishings and decorative accessories industry. Applications using augmented reality add virtual images to the viewer's field of vision, as opposed to virtual reality, which completely immerses the viewer in a virtual world cut off from the real physical world.

Williams-Sonoma acquired Outward in 2017 in an all-cash purchase. Outward's technology gives Williams-Sonoma customers highly interactive shopping experiences, enabling them to see a 3D preview of what their home could look like with new furnishings.

Williams-Sonoma owns a variety of brands and companies. They include Pottery Barn, which includes Pottery Barn Kids and Pottery Barn Teen, West Elm, Rejuvenation, Mark and Graham, GreenRow, and Outward. Some of these brands were acquired by Williams-Sonoma. Others were created in-house

Pottery Barn has grown to include specialty stores focusing on certain demographics. In 1999, the company introduced Pottery Barn Kids, which focuses on children's home furnishing and accessories. Then, in 2003, it launched a series of stores catering specifically to teenagers.

Yes, Markand Graham is part of Williams-Sonoma. The brand was launched in 2012 to add personalized gifts and accessories to Williams-Sonoma’s suite of products.

Williams-Sonoma, a household name in America for high-end kitchenware and modern furnishings, has broadened its product range and the services it can offer its customers throughout the years by introducing new brands and making a number of acquisitions. Pottery Barn is the most well-known of its acquisitions and is the main revenue generator for Williams-Sonoma. However, it isn’t the only company Williams-Sonoma owns.

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