The Federal Open Market Committee voted to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 3.5 to 3.75 percent. The statement was released on July 29, 2026.
Beth M. Hammack, Neel Kashkari, and Lorie K. Logan dissented from the majority view. These three policymakers preferred to raise the target range by 0.25 percentage point.
The Committee cited solid economic expansion despite elevated uncertainty linked to the conflict in the Middle East. Productivity growth and capital investment remain strong, while job gains have kept pace with the workforce.
Inflation remains elevated relative to the Committee's 2 percent goal, partly due to supply shocks in energy. The unemployment rate has changed little, and the Fed is continuing its policy of maintaining ample reserves in the banking system.
A new communication style
This is the second FOMC statement under Chairman Kevin Warsh, who has promised a significant shakeup of how the Fed communicates monetary policy expectations. Traders have separately been wondering if the Fed will use a new, shorter template or if the statement will look substantially different each meeting.
Warsh has expressed the view that forward guidance was not well suited for the current policy conjuncture. During his first press conference as chair, he acknowledged a difference in the June statement, which contained around 130 words compared to over 300 in recent meetings under predecessor Jerome Powell.
The June release had no forward guidance or information about how FOMC members voted. Some on Wall Street have turned to artificial intelligence-powered tools to parse communication from a Warsh-led central bank.
In June, Warsh announced he was forming task forces to review key aspects of the Fed's operations. University of Washington professor Peter Fisher and former Bank of England Governor Mervyn King are among members of the communication-focused task force.