Federal Reserve chair is under bombardment from Donald Trump and battling an insurgency within the central bank

The annual economics symposium, which begins Thursday, brings together top monetary policy officials from around the world and always makes headlines in the financial press. There are at least three reasons the conference is worth paying attention to this year.

Powell has never responded directly to Trump's provocations, and I, personally, expect this issue to play a predominant role at his latest meeting in Jackson Hole, perhaps even more so than the interest rate discussion. The independence of central banks is much more important than a 25 basis point change in the coming month.

The takeaway is that markets aren’t pricing in any sort of “succession premium” tied to any one chairman. The glidepath of monetary policy — regardless of Powell’s successor — appears structural, anchored to the Fed’s backward-looking framework . If that holds, it would mark a break from recent history.

The annual Jackson Hole Economic Symposium takes place later this week. It will attract policymakers from around the world and feature highly anticipated remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

This week's set-piece event is the Jackson Hole central-bank gathering in Wyoming, slated for Thursday through Saturday. Investors will tune into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech for any h