Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is known for providing clear signals about the central bank’s next interest rate move in order to avoid roiling markets. But Wall Street was mostly clueless this week when it came to predicting how big a rate cut the Fed would deliver on Wednesday.

U.S. stock index futures edged lower on Friday, pausing after the previous session's rally set Wall Street's main indexes on track for weekly gains following the Federal Reserve's pivotal stance on monetary policy earlier in the week.

U.S. stock indexes remained stuck in place as Wall Street waited for the Federal Reserve to make its first interest rate cut in more than four years.