By Howard Schneider WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Fed Chair Jerome Powell used the central bank's annual Wyoming research conference to promise inflation-fighting rigor when it was needed in 2022, then last year he came to the defense of the job market with promises of lower interest rates when the unemployment rate seemed on a steady rise.

Wall Street’s major averages are slightly lower on Monday as investors shift their focus to a wave of retail earnings and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s upcoming speech at the Jackson Hole symposium later this week.

Bitcoin slid below $116K and Ethereum lost over 4% as crypto markets turned risk-off ahead of Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s final Jackson Hole keynote.