Fed Considers Reducing Policy Meetings to Six Per Year

The Federal Reserve is considering reducing its regular policy meetings from eight to six per year, according to a report in the New York Times. This change was proposed by Chair Warsh and would include six interest rate meetings and two additional meetings focused on substantive economic topics.

Under current law, the central bank must meet at least four times annually. The Federal Reserve currently holds eight regularly scheduled Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meetings per year.

Bank of America analysts warned that markets would likely accept a shift to six policy-focused meetings but cautioned that the Fed should announce any changes well in advance to avoid disrupting front-end market operations, particularly for FOMC overnight index swaps and fed funds futures.