Key takeaways from the Fed’s annual Jackson Hole conference

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City’s annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which featured Kevin Warsh’s first speech as chairman, is winding down Saturday.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the conference: Warsh Emerging Warsh used a keynote speech to hammer home a message that curbing inflation is the central bank’s top priority.

While parts of the speech served to double down on his stated determination to avoid offering guidance to financial markets on the direction of interest rates, Warsh did finally provide some insight into how he views the economy.

That helped relieve some frustration among investors and added drama to the Fed’s next policy meeting.

The new message immediately triggered a jump in expectations for a near-term rate increase.

In the wake of his remarks, attention turned to the next round of consumer inflation data, due Sept.

11, just days before policymakers gather in Washington on Sept.

15-16.

While Warsh didn’t signal explicitly his support for a hike, he warned inflation isn’t meaningfully slowing and that policymakers must be confident it is.

Otherwise, he said, they had “work to do.” Financial conditions, he added, weren’t restraining the economy, and he described interest rates as the Fed’s “predominant tool” for achieving its mandate.

“Here is my standard: We must be confident that underlying inflation is moving to our objective, clearly and at sufficient speed.

Otherwise, we have work to do.

That’s our job,” he said.

Warsh also dispelled fears that he intended to alter the Fed’s inflation goal.