Fed Chair Kevin Warsh Overhauls FOMC Calendar to Cut Rate-Setting Meetings to Seven in 2027 and Six in 2028

Speaking during his post-FOMC press conference, Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh announced a structural overhaul to the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) calendar starting in fall 2027, marking the first change to the central bank's regular eight-meeting rate-setting schedule since 1981.
Key calendar changes and operational implications include:
- Reduction in Rate-Setting Decisions (2027–2028): While the FOMC will continue to convene eight times per year, one meeting in fall 2027 will be dedicated exclusively to broad medium- and long-term monetary policy strategy—with no interest rate vote or official policy statement—reducing active rate-setting meetings to seven. Warsh added that the FOMC expects to expand this format to two strategy-only meetings in 2028, leaving six scheduled rate-decision meetings per year.
- Separation of Strategy from Short-Term Data Noise: Warsh—who first floated the reform in July—stated that "quashing inflation is not about a fixed calendar date," aiming to reduce market fixation on short-term meeting-by-meeting forward guidance while retaining the Fed's authority to adjust benchmark interest rates outside regular meeting dates if economic or inflation shocks require intervention.