The Federal Reserve FOMC meeting, or the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, is a key meeting that determines U.S. monetary policy. Below is an introduction to it:

Meeting Composition

The FOMC is composed of 12 voting members, including 7 Board members, the President of the New York Fed, and 4 other regional Fed Presidents. The 7 Board members are nominated by the U.S. President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate; the President of the New York Fed has permanent voting rights; the 4 other regional Fed Presidents are selected on a rotating basis from the 11 regional Fed Presidents excluding the New York Fed President, with a term of 1 year.

Meeting Schedule

The FOMC holds eight regular meetings each year in January, March, May, June, July, September, October, and December, generally lasting one to two days. Among them, the minutes of the meetings in March, June, September, and December will publish a dot plot that shows the 19 participants' forecasts for the federal funds target rate, economic growth, inflation rate, and unemployment rate.

Meeting Content

The main topics of discussion include the state of economic operations, financial market risks, and monetary policy decisions, as well as presentations from Fed economists showcasing their research findings. The meeting places particular emphasis on economic growth and inflation, with the monetary policy objective being to seek a balance between economic growth and inflation, and setting the interest rate target range based on this principle.

Recent Meeting Situation

- March 2025 Meeting: On March 19, 2025, U.S. time, the Federal Reserve announced the FOMC meeting statement and economic forecasts. The meeting maintained the policy interest rate in the range of 4.25%-4.50%, planning to further slow down the balance sheet reduction starting in April, decreasing the pace of Treasury securities reduction from $25 billion per month to $5 billion. The median forecast for economic growth in 2025 was significantly revised down from 2.1% to 1.7%, the unemployment rate was revised up from 4.3% to 4.4%, and the median forecasts for PCE and core PCE inflation rates were revised up by 0.2 and 0.3 percentage points to 2.7% and 2.8%, respectively.

- June 2025 Meeting: Scheduled to be held from June 17 to 18, U.S. time. A report from CICC pointed out that this FOMC may slightly raise its inflation forecast, but due to the resilience of non-farm employment and easing tariffs, the Fed's assessment of growth may be more optimistic than in March, and Powell's stance at this meeting may lean towards hawkish.