USD — FOMC Press Conference

The FOMC Press Conference is held by the Federal Reserve Chair after each scheduled policy meeting. It begins with prepared remarks explaining the decision and is followed by questions from journalists. It is not a numerical release, so Actual, Forecast and Previous do not apply. The conference can clarify the brief FOMC statement, the committee’s reaction function and, at projection meetings, the Summary of Economic Projections.

Markets listen for how the Chair describes inflation, labour-market balance, growth, financial conditions and the threshold for future moves. USD, Treasury yields and equities may react when answers change the expected policy path, even if the rate decision itself matched consensus. The “dot plot” is a collection of individual conditional projections, not a committee promise, and the Chair may emphasize uncertainty around its median. Distinguish the base case from answers about hypothetical scenarios and avoid judging tone from one adjective or clipped headline. The Chair represents the committee’s consensus but cannot pre-commit future votes. Compare the full transcript with the statement, implementation note and projections and account for position unwinding after the 2 p.m. release. Source: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.