Federal Open Market Committee meeting: Live coverage

By Kyle Campbell , Maria Volkova and John Heltman

Published June 17, 2026 1:45 PM

Updated June 17, 2026 3:58 PM

1 Min Read

Key insight: The Federal Open Market Committee is likely to hold interest rates steady for the fourth straight meeting amid rising inflation and a strengthening labor market.
Expert quote: "Truth-seeking is more important than repetition. If one has a press conference, one wants to deliver some important news." — Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh
Forward Look: Newly installed Fed Chair Kevin Warsh will give his first public remarks since being sworn in last month. He is expected to outline his view on the optimal path for monetary policy.

WASHINGTON — The Federal Open Market Committee will conclude its first meeting under the leadership of new Chair Kevin Warsh on Wednesday afternoon.

Heading into the meeting, the committee is broadly expected to hold the target range for the federal funds rate steady between 3.5% and 3.75%, where it has been since the end of last year.

Inflation has been trending sharply upward, with headline figures running above 3% for each of the past three months. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' consumer price index showed prices rose by 4.2% year over year in May, the highest level since 2023. These readings have caused several FOMC members to endorse dropping their bias toward cutting rates in favor of a more neutral policy stance.

However, the recent surge in prices has been caused by a sharp rise in energy prices stemming from the war in Iran and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for oil. A peace deal was struck earlier this week raising hopes for price normalization in the near future.

Warsh has argued that further disinflation could be in the works as artificial intelligence drives economic growth and efficiency. He is expected to address those disparate views during his inaugural press conference after the meeting.

The Fed's policy decision will be released at 2:00 p.m., with remarks from Warsh to follow at 2:30.

9 Posts

1h 20m ago

Warsh mum on headquarters renovation

By Maria Volkova

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh.

Bloomberg News

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh declined to offer his views on ongoing renovations to the Fed headquarters, saying only that a report from the inspector general examining renovations at the central bank will be completed in the next coming months.Warsh said he's had one meeting with the Fed's Inspector General who told him that a report on the building projects will come out "at some point later this summer."

"I'll be interested in reading the report," Warsh said. "From my perspective, with a forward-looking glance, is there anything that we can be doing or should be doing from this moment until the completion of the project, [so that] we can be good stewards of taxpayer money?"

Fed watchers have stated they expect Fed Gov. Jerome Powell to step down from the central bank once the report on headquarter costs overruns is released and he is cleared from any associated wrongdoing. The Justice Department launched an investigation into Powell earlier this year over his testimony related to the $2.5 billion in renovation costs at the Fed.

1h 27m ago

Warsh: Fed still has 'commitment' to dot plot

By Kyle Campbell

Bloomberg News

During his debut press conference, Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said he will continue to encourage his colleagues on the FOMC to continue submitting quarterly economic forecasts, even if he does not.

Warsh has been critical of the Fed's various communication practices, including the quarterly forecasts — known colloquially as the dot plot — as ineffective and potentially binding for policymakers, who feel pressure to adhere to their projections even as conditions change.

Warsh declined to share his forecasts this meeting, but he said the practice will not be discontinued. At least not in the immediate future.

"It's been the practice of this committee for participants to submit these projections, and I have encouraged my colleagues to continue to do so," Warsh said, later adding that the FOMC has made a "commitment" to share these reports with the public.

He noted that the future of the dot plot would be determined by a new task force he is convening on Fed communications.

"I wouldn't be surprised if there was a new communications framework, there were some changes to the [dot plot]," Warsh said. "That's a committee discussion, a robust discussion. I think we'll have it. I believe we're going to come to a better mix of communications to deliver on what we promised, but I don't want to prejudge what those are."

1h 42m ago

Warsh wants Fed responding to financial markets, not other way around

By Kyle Campbell

A television station broadcasts Kevin Warsh, chair of the Federal Reserve, speaking after a Federal Open Market Committee meeting on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on June 17.

Bloomberg News

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh wants the Federal Open Market Committee responding to financial markets, not the other way around.

Warsh said the volume of Fed communication in recent years has made markets dependent on the central bank's interpretation of economic events and indicators. When markets react to the Fed rather than conditions broadly, Warsh argued, the Fed loses a key source of information.

"Financial market prices are probably the most important source of information to guide central bankers, but when all the financial markets are doing is reflecting back what we've said, then we're taking the most important source of information, and we're being blind to it," he said.

Warsh said markets perform more efficiently when they are interpreting developments on their own.

"I'd like us to create a system where those blinders come off, where markets are following data that they efficiently think is reliable, and they'll be watching data, will be watching data, they'll come with better information through market prices to us, we can make more informed decisions, but ultimately, the goal that I set at the outset: Deliver on the price stability objective that Congress told us to do, that we've got to get in the business of doing," he said.

1h 54m ago

Warsh reaffirms 2% inflation goal

By Maria Volkova

Bloomberg News

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh reaffirmed the central bank's commitment to getting inflation to its 2% target, though he declined to give forward guidance on how that goal would be achieved.

"We have the capability and commitment to deliver on our price stability objective of 2%," he said during the post-FOMC presser. "That's exactly what we're going to do." On Wednesday, Warsh pushed back on giving forward guidance on whether reaching the Fed's inflation target would require the committee to raise rates.

"Your questions sounded like encouragement for me to give forward guidance," Warsh said responding to a reporter. "Forward guidance isn't the business we should be in."

Inflation has been rising, with headline figures running above 3% for each of the past three months. The Bureau of Labor Statistics' consumer price index showed prices rose by 4.2% year over year in May, the highest level since 2023.

Warsh announces task forces for Fed functions

Bloomberg News

New Fed Chair Kevin Warsh announced five new task forces to explore pillars of his agenda at the helm of the central bank.

During his debut press conference on Wednesday afternoon, Warsh said he is forming groups to explore the Fed's communication practices, balance sheet management, data sourcing and inflation framework, as well as one focused on productivity and jobs in the broader economy.

"Each task force will serve an objective shared by everyone in the system, shared by everyone around that table that I sat with over the last couple of days [for the Federal Open Market Committee meeting]: a Federal Reserve that is clear-eyed about its mission, fit for purpose and focused on the future," he said.

Warsh said tasks would be comprised of experts both inside and outside the Fed and would be supported by Fed staff. He said the groups would be convened within the coming weeks and he expected them to yield policy recommendations by the end of the year.

Warsh said the communications task force would explore a host of tools the Fed currently uses to convey its monetary policy positions. This includes "press conferences, dots, meetings and the like, transcripts, minutes."

He said he has not made up his mind about how press conferences specifically would be used going forward.

"Press conferences can be a very useful way to communicate with households, businesses and more broadly [the press]. I had a great old mentor named George Shultz, and his mantra was, 'Press conference are useful, but when you have one, you want to make sure you have something important to say,'" Warsh said. "I think we have something important to say about our commitment to deliver on price stability, our commitment to rethink practices with an eye of moving the Fed forward."

On the central bank's balance sheet, Warsh said the task force would explore the "benefits and risks" of the ample reserves regime as well as the composition of specific assets and liabilities that the Fed keeps on its books.

Warsh confirms he withheld economic projections

Bloomberg News

Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh confirmed during his first press conference following a meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee Wednesday that he declined to provide his economic projections for the quarterly Statement of Economic Projections, known as the dot plot.

"This afternoon, you also received the usual summary of economic projections. It's been the practice of this committee for participants to submit these projections, and I have encouraged my colleagues to continue to do so," Warsh said. "I, however, refrained from offering any projections of my own, consistent with my long-held views on the SEP, at least as currently structured."

The SEP has been viewed by markets as a window into the individual views of each of the participants on the FOMC, though the projections themselves are anonymized. Warsh added later in the press conference that he didn't find the SEP useful for monetary policy implementation and said the committee would be reconsidering a range of communications methods currently in place.

"For me, it's not helpful in the conduct of policy," Warsh said. "I suspect by year-end, there will be a review about communications broadly — press conferences, dots, meetings and the like, transcripts, minutes. I don't want to prejudge the outcomes there, But I'm pretty open-minded about what they could be."

Markets down, bonds up on Fed interest rate news

Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

Major market indices fell modestly on the anticipated news that the Federal Open Market Committee decided to keep the federal funds rate steady between 3.5% and 3.75%, while bond yields rose.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by about 300 basis points in the minutes after the FOMC's announcement before rebounding; S&P 500 index fell by about 150 points before rebounding. The KBW Bank Index fell modestly as well. Yields on one-year Treasury bonds, meanwhile, rose nearly 0.1%, while yields on the 10-year Treasury rose three-tenths of 1%.

Wednesday's announcement marks the fourth consecutive meeting in which the central bank has held policy steady, following three straight quarter-point rate cuts late last year aimed at supporting the labor market.

FOMC keeps rates unchanged; one member declines projections

Bloomberg News

The Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged on Wednesday afternoon.

In a direct and concise policy statement — roughly half the length of a typical release from the group — the committee said the target range would remain between 3.5% and 3.75%, where it has been since the end of last year.

The statement gave no indication about a bias toward increasing or decreasing interest rates, but economic forecasts released alongside the statement show a greater inclination toward raising rates than the committee forecasted in March.

Nine FOMC participants called for at least one quarter percentage-point increase before the end of the year, according to the quarterly summary of economic projections released alongside the statement, while eight said rates would hold steady and one projected a quarter-point cut.

One member of the 19-person committee did not submit projections, leaving the summary — also known as the dot plot because of how forecasts are displayed — one dot short.

The participating members forecasted lower economic growth through 2026 than they did in their March projections. They also expected a lower unemployment rate, higher inflation and a higher federal funds rate.

In the statement, the committee said economic activity is expanding at a "solid pace despite elevated uncertainty" related to the war in Iran. It also deemed productivity and capital investment to be "strong" and noted that the labor market has changed little. It was also emphatic about the FOMC's commitment to bring down inflation.

"Inflation remains elevated relative to the committee's 2% goal, in part reflecting supply shocks that have driven price increases in certain sectors, including energy," the statement concludes. "The committee will deliver price stability."

All eyes on Fed Chair Warsh

Bloomberg News

During the post-meeting press conference, market participants and analysts will be keyed in not only to what Warsh says but how he says it.

Warsh has been a sharp critic of the Fed's communications practices in recent years, arguing that the central bank and its officials are saying too much and creating forecasts that limit their policy flexibility.

Today's post-meeting communications, from the committee's policy statement to the quarterly summary of economic projections to Warsh's remarks, could set the tone for how the Fed seeks to set expectations.

In particular, Warsh has suggested that he would set a higher bar for what he discloses to the press and public.

"Truth-seeking is more important than repetition," Warsh told the Senate Banking Committee earlier this year. "If one has a press conference, one wants to deliver some important news."

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