Last week’s consumer and producer price data “revived [the] stickiness of inflation debate, he says. While jobless claims were subdued, a nonfarm payrolls report at the start of August showed the 3-month average at its weakest since 2010 when unemployment was 9%, he adds.

Jerome Powell has the ideal platform Friday to deliver a clear signal the Federal Reserve is about to resume cutting interest rates. But the economy isn’t giving him an equally clear signal that now is the time.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will offer an economic outlook at the central bank’s annual symposium. The subtext of this year’s speech is more important.