Fed Chair Powell Speaks Today. Here’s What to Watch—and Why It Matters.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell will have an opportunity on Wednesday to lay the groundwork for where the central bank is headed when policy makers meet next month—and he’ll likely use it to make the case for slower but steady interest rate hikes.

In a speech Wednesday afternoon at the Brookings Institution, Powell is expected to reinforce the dual message central bank officials have been making for weeks: that the Fed is on track to ease up slightly on its pace of monetary policy tightening, likely slowing to a 50 basis point increase next month after four straight 75 basis point hikes.