Warsh to give one of Fed's eight 2027 meetings wholly to strategy, no rate vote

The Federal Reserve will set aside one of its eight 2027 meetings for monetary policy strategy alone, with no interest-rate vote and no policy statement attached, Chair Kevin Warsh said, a change he argued goes to the heart of how the central bank reaches its decisions.

Warsh said the revised schedule takes effect next autumn. The Fed keeps eight meetings a year, but will give more weight to longer-horizon strategic discussion alongside its regular rate decisions. In 2028, he expects two meetings to be devoted to strategy and the remaining six to monetary policy.

"We believe eight meetings per year is the right number for the FOMC," Warsh said, adding that the schedule lets policymakers weigh near-term economic developments against broader questions about the direction of policy. "I believe the setting of the meeting schedule and agenda is more than some administrative detail. It's an institutional choice affecting the nature and the quality of our deliberations and ultimately the wisdom of our decisions," he said.

The announcement lands as the Fed works towards its 2% inflation target, with open questions over whether policy should be tightened further. Asked why rates had not been raised despite limited progress on inflation and a relatively stable labour market, Warsh said price stability could not be judged by a single date or an isolated data point. "Ensuring price stability, quashing inflation, is not about some fixed individual date on a calendar. Same way, it's not about some isolated data point," he said.

Warsh said the Fed had reinforced its commitment to the 2% target, taken responsibility for delivering price stability and set out its policy framework. He pointed to the Fed's September decision to remove some monetary policy accommodation, and said measures of inflation compensation and expectations were moving in the right direction, though the global environment remained unsettled. "I'm encouraged by the progress we've made in a short period of time," he said, while acknowledging the Fed had not yet achieved price stability.