The stock market is heading into a catalyst-filled week as Fed Chair Jerome Powell gets ready to speak at Jackson Hole and big retailers report earnings.

Wall Street's main indexes closed roughly flat on Monday, after struggling for direction while investors awaited a raft of corporate earnings reports from major retailers for more signs about the state of the economy and the Federal Reserve's annual symposium in Jackson Hole.

Investors expecting to hear Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell give guidance Friday about the central bank's September meeting may be in for a letdown. This is because Powell will want to keep his options open in his speech in Jackson Hole,

The takeaway is that markets aren’t pricing in any sort of “succession premium” tied to any one chairman. The glidepath of monetary policy — regardless of Powell’s successor — appears structural, anchored to the Fed’s backward-looking framework . If that holds, it would mark a break from recent history.

What will Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signal about interest rates at this year's Jackson Hole gathering? The central-bank gathering has sometimes been a venue for marking shifts in Fed policy,