Bloomberg — Chairman Jerome Powell said the time has come for the Federal Reserve lowers key interest rateaffirming the expectations that Authorities will begin cutting borrowing costs next month and clearly indicating its intention to avoid a further cooling of the labour market.

“The time has come for politics to adapt” Powell said Friday at the Kansas City Fed's annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He acknowledged recent increases in inflation and an “unequivocal” slowdown in the labor market.

Here are some of the charts that appeared on Bloomberg this week on the latest developments in the global economy, markets and geopolitics:

United States and Canada

While Powell’s remarks provided some clarity for financial markets in the short term, they gave few clues about how the Fed might proceed after its September meeting. Still, the speech confirmed that the U.S. central bank is on the cusp of a key turning point in its two-year battle against inflation.

U.S. job growth will likely be revised down by 818,000 jobs for the 12 months through March, the biggest downward revision since 2009. The Bureau of Labor Statistics provided at least three Wall Street firms with the figure, which was so long awaited that it was delayed on the agency's website, renewing questions about the procedures for releasing some of the world's most sensitive economic information.

The busiest U.S. port complex is pushing import volumes closer to pandemic highs, despite concerns about a cooling economy. Demand is now being driven by retailers and other importers stocking up in anticipation of U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods and a possible strike by a large group of American longshoremen, adding to the usual pre-holiday ordering frenzy that occurs at this time of year.

A union filed a strike notice Friday against Canada's largest railway, just hours after trains resumed operations, threatening to derail plans to restart vital transportation networks. The Teamsters Canadian Rail Conference said in a letter to Canadian National Railway that it plans to pull services for its nearly 6,500 members starting at 10 a.m. Toronto time Monday.

Europe

The eurozone economy got a surprisingly strong boost from the Paris Olympics, which propelled private-sector growth to its fastest pace in three months. Much suggests that the Olympic spirit will not last, even in France, where growth momentum rebounded sharply this month. Output in Germany, Europe’s largest economy, contracted more than expected.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wants refugees to return to help sustain the war-ravaged economy and resist Russia. Meanwhile, much of central and eastern Europe is suffering from labor shortages, and countries like Poland and the Czech Republic are wary of losing workers.

Asia

South Korean household debt rose at a rapid pace last quarter, driven by mortgage lending. South Korea has one of the highest household debt rates in the world because many people hold most of their wealth in real estate.

Singapore's core inflation slowed more than expected in July, leaving room for the island's central bank to consider easing monetary policy adjustments later this year.

Chinese consumers continued to pull back on gold purchases last month as record prices and a sustained economic slowdown dampened demand in the world's biggest bullion buyer.

Latin America and Emerging Markets

It’s been nearly two years since Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva secured his return to power in Brazil. For investors, the results are grim – a stark contrast to Lula’s first presidential term two decades ago. He has repeatedly rejected calls for spending cuts to reduce a budget deficit that has ballooned to the equivalent of about 10% of Brazil’s gross domestic product.

Mexico's annual inflation slowed much more than expected, while economic growth remained weak. The data allowed Banxico, as Mexico's central bank is known, to make a second straight quarter-point rate cut at its September meeting.

–With the collaboration of Vinícius Andrade, Krystof Chamonikolas, Laura Dhillon Kane, Andrea Dudik, Sybilla Gross, Sam Kim, Cynthia Li, Jonnelle Marte, Monique Mulima, Natalia Ojewska, Amara Omeokwe, Jana Randow, Andrew Rosati, Augusta Saraiva and Alex Vasquez.

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