"While we are disappointed that health conditions will prevent us from being able to gather in person at the Jackson Lake Lodge this year as we had planned, the safety of our guests and the Teton County community is our priority," president and CEO of the Kansas City Fed Esther George said on Friday.

In commodities, the copper price recovered slightly on Friday to more than US$9,000 per tonne, to $9,044/t on the London Metal Exchange.

Iron ore continued its downward trajectory, with Australian 62% fines sliding another circa 3% to $149.50/t according to MySteel, amid concerns about stern cuts to steel output in China.

Gold was slightly lower, around $1,778 an ounce on the spot market at the time of writing.

Among the mining majors, Anglo American shed 1.49% in London on Friday and Barrick Gold gained 0.57% in Toronto.

Finally, BHP - which has shed almost 14% in the past five days following its plans to end its dual company structure and offload oil and gas assets - was up 0.6% in morning Australian trade.