Powell Confronts Policy Crossroads With All Eyes on Jackson Hole
- Fed chair to deliver hotly anticipated speech on Friday
- Markets await signal on rate cuts coming as soon as September
Chair Jerome Powell will usher in the next chapter in the Federal Reserve’s inflation battle on Friday, when he’s expected to set the table for an interest-rate cut while reassuring investors that policymakers can stave off a sharp economic slowdown.
The hotly anticipated speech at the Fed’s annual gathering in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, comes at a high stakes moment for the US central bank and the $27 trillion Treasury market. Powell and his colleagues appear on course to lower borrowing costs just seven weeks before the presidential election, a precarious task that will put the Fed chief and his colleagues under intense public scrutiny. It also comes as officials pay increasing attention to the cooling labor market after years of laser focus on price pressures.