U.S. stock futures were mostly flat, with the S&P 500 taking a breather after eight straight days of gains

U.S. stock futures were mostly flat on August 20, continuing a strong run the previous day as the market bet that the Federal Reserve would soon signal it was ready to start cutting interest rates. Traders took a breather on Monday after the S&P 500 rose for an eighth straight day.

Stock volume was down as investors were reluctant to make big bets ahead of this week's Jackson Hole Economic Symposium. "What we've seen is that a recent series of data has eased concerns about slowing U.S. economic growth without raising concerns about a re-acceleration of inflation," said Kyle Rodda, senior market analyst at Capital.Com Inc. (Jinshi)