What is FOMC Meeting?

FOMC

• The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) consists of twelve members--the seven members of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System; the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York; and four of the remaining eleven Reserve Bank presidents.
• Nonvoting Reserve Bank presidents attend the meetings of the Committee, participate in the discussions, and contribute to the Committee's assessment of the economy and policy options.
• The FOMC holds eight regularly scheduled meetings per year.
• At these meetings, the Committee reviews economic and financial conditions, determines the appropriate stance of monetary policy, and assesses the risks to its long-run goals of price stability and sustainable economic growth.

FOMC Minutes

The FOMC Meeting Minutes are a detailed record of the committee's policy-setting meeting held about two weeks earlier. The minutes offer detailed insights regarding the FOMC's stance on monetary policy, so currency traders carefully examine them for clues regarding the outcome of future interest rate decisions.

Reactions to FOMC

The financial world had interpreted this release as suggesting that the Fed would raise interest rate sooner than previously expected.