Fed Chair Powell's Wyoming speech Friday expected to offer clues about potential interest rate cuts

Home and auto buyers financing their purchases may see some relief as inflation cools, but rising unemployment rates could hold interest rate cuts back. 

At the central bankers’ annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will give a speech Friday, according to the Associated Press, which may provide some insight into the Fed’s assessment of the economy. The speech is often influential on the thinking of central bankers. 

The statements Powell makes may signal when and how much interest rates may be cut in the short term. 

The Fed has set a target inflation rate of 2% at the point in which it would consider rate cuts to begin. This month, it dropped to 2.9% for the first time since 2021. The unemployment rate, however, increased to 4.3% in July, with the number of new jobs falling beneath projections.