Powell Confronts Policy Crossroads With All Eyes on Jackson Hole

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 ...