Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh said the Fed will reserve one 2027 meeting for broad monetary policy strategy, reducing scheduled rate-setting sessions to seven while keeping eight meetings on the calendar.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the Fed’s policy-setting panel, plans to start the change in fall 2027, Warsh said at an Oct. 28 press conference. The strategy session is not expected to include a vote on the federal funds target or an FOMC policy statement.
Warsh said officials still need regular meetings to assess economic information, while a dedicated session would give the committee room to debate broad policy questions. He expects two strategy meetings and six policy-setting meetings in 2028, though the Fed has not identified those dates.
The Fed’s published calendar lists eight meeting dates for 2027, from Jan. 26-27 through Dec. 7-8. The dates remain tentative until the committee confirms them at the preceding meeting, and the calendar does not mark which session will focus on strategy.
The change does not indicate whether interest rates will rise, fall or stay the same. On Oct. 28, the FOMC held its target range at 3.75% to 4% in a 10-2 vote. The committee said inflation remained elevated and that more information would help it determine an appropriate policy stance to return inflation to its 2% goal.
The FOMC can also meet outside its regular schedule as needed. It cut its target range by 0.5 percentage point on March 3, 2020, before its previously scheduled March 17-18 meeting.
Warsh said the Fed has not decided what it might release after a strategy session. “It’s not obvious yet. There’s more news to come on that,” he said. The next scheduled FOMC meeting is Dec. 8-9, 2026.
