Later this week, economists, central bankers and members of the business press will gather in Jackson Hole, Wyo. for the Kansas City Fed’s annual Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium.

This week's set-piece event is the Jackson Hole central-bank gathering in Wyoming, slated for Thursday through Saturday. Investors will be glued to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech, hoping for any insight into whether the central bank might kick off interest-rate cuts in September.

Jerome Powell has the ideal platform Friday to deliver a clear signal the Federal Reserve is about to resume cutting interest rates. But the economy isn’t giving him an equally clear signal that now is the time.