Fed chair may leave door open to higher interest rates in Jackson Hole speech

The chair of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, centre, talks with attendees at the annual symposium in Grand Teton national park last year. Photograph: Amber Baesler/AP

The world’s most powerful central banker, Jerome Powell, is expected to disappoint investors looking for reassurance that US interest rates have peaked when he gives a much-awaited speech to his peers on Friday.

Topping the bill at the three-day annual conclave of central bankers that begins on Thursday at Jackson Hole in Wyoming, the chair of the Federal Reserve will leave the door ajar for further increases in US borrowing costs over the coming months should inflationary pressures persist.