All eyes are on Jerome Powell this week as he prepares to make a major speech in this week where investors are hoping to gain insight into rate cuts.

Wall Street will be listening closely to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech Friday at the Jackson Hole economic policy summit, where he could signal whether the central bank is ready to cut borrowing costs at its next meeting in September.

Powell's speech against the backdrop of the Grand Teton Mountains near Jackson Hole will cap a tumultuous eight years punctuated by a global pandemic that demanded aggressive policy invention, a follow-on outbreak of inflation that prompted record-setting rate hikes, and an incessant stream of personal attacks from President Donald Trump.

Incoming information has confounded Fed Chair Jerome Powell's data-dependent strategy by pulling in both directions.