In a suspected but highly unusual action on the part of the Federal Reserve, Chair Jerome Powell in his morning speech at the annual Jackson Hole meeting made as definite a statement on interest rates as you could expect.

"The time has come for policy to adjust," he said. But, avoiding complete predictability, he added, "The direction of travel is clear, and the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks."

Still, it's the green light so many in CRE and finance have waited for. Whether a quarter point or 50 basis points — so long as there isn't an unexpected and unmitigated economic disaster suddenly appearing in data — there will be a cut in September followed by some unknown series of additional cuts.