NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are ticking higher on Friday ahead of a highly anticipated speech about where U.S. interest rates may be heading.

The S&P 500 rose 0.3%, coming off its fifth straight modest loss after setting an all-time high last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 273 points, or 0.6%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% higher.

In the bond market, Treasury yields eased a bit as the countdown dwindles to a speech coming from the chair of the Federal Reserve at an annual symposium for central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. The setting has been home to big policy announcements from the Fed in the past, and the hope on Wall Street is that Jerome Powell may hint that cuts to interest rates may be coming soon.

The Fed has been holding its

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