“Navigating by the stars under cloudy skies” — Powell’s Comments at Jackson Hole

August 25, 2023 — Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole was largely a confirmation of the Fed’s conundrum. Is the soft-landing economy with softening inflation scenario enough or will policy makers need to see rising unemployment and a recession to confirm success in combating inflation? At this stage there is no definitive answer to policy, and the Fed is left, according to Powell, “navigating by the stars under cloudy skies.”