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.

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.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak at a research conference on Friday in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. What can we expect?

Gold price stalls below 50-day MA as traders await Powell’s Jackson Hole speech and Fed rate cut signals. Technical weakness keeps outlook neutral to bearish.

According to Bloomberg Economics, "Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has the opportunity to settle the speculation with his speech at the annual Jackson Hole Symposium", but economists Anna Wong, Stuart Paul, Eliza Winger, Estelle Ou and Chris G. Collins think he won't be as frank this year.

Wall Street and European shares were flat to marginally lower on Monday ahead of a potentially eventful week for U.S. interest rate policy, even as attention turned to Washington where Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy and European leaders will meet President Donald Trump.