By Howard Schneider WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Fed Chair Jerome Powell used the central bank's annual Wyoming research conference to promise inflation-fighting rigor when it was needed in 2022, then last year he came to the defense of the job market with promises of lower interest rates when the unemployment rate seemed on a steady rise.

Bitcoin slid below $116K and Ethereum lost over 4% as crypto markets turned risk-off ahead of Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s final Jackson Hole keynote.

What will Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signal about interest rates at this year's Jackson Hole gathering? The central-bank gathering has sometimes been a venue for marking shifts in Fed policy,