The Federal Reserve has once again released its "minimalist statement," a full comparison with the Fed's September meeting statement.
New Federal Reserve Chairman Warsh continued his official, extremely simplified communication style. The text of the September interest rate decision statement was further shortened, becoming extremely concise.
On Wednesday, September 16th local time, the Federal Reserve announced a 25 basis point interest rate hike, raising the target range for the federal funds rate to 3.75%–4.00%. In this statement, the Fed made several key adjustments to its description of the current state of the U.S. economy and its policy stance compared to the July meeting. The main changes include:
- Voting results : Unlike the July meeting where 3 votes were against (Hammack, Kashkari, and Logan all advocated for a 25 basis point rate hike), this rate hike decision received unanimous approval from all 12 FOMC members with voting rights (12–0).
- The interest rate hike has been implemented : the wording has been directly changed from "maintaining 3.5% to 3.75%" in July to "increasing by 25 basis points to 3.75% to 4%".
- Geopolitical and spending assessment : This statement removed the explicit mention of “Middle East conflict” and replaced it with the more generalized “geopolitical developments”; it also added affirmation of “domestic spending remaining resilient” and slightly adjusted the description of capital investment from “strong” in July to “robust”.
- Inflation statements and policy alignment : The specific explanation in mid-July that "partially reflects supply shocks driving up prices in sectors such as energy" has been removed and simplified to "inflation remains high"; at the same time, in conjunction with this rate hike, a key statement has been added: "Today's policy action will help achieve the Committee's 2% target more promptly," and the Fed reiterated its commitment to price stability.
Full translation of the statement
The full translation of the statement is as follows. Black text indicates the parts identical to the July 2026 FOMC statement; red text indicates new additions in September 2026; and blue text in parentheses indicates deleted wording from the July statement. (Please indicate the source when reprinting):
The Federal Open Market Committee approved the following statement by a vote of 12-0(9-3):
The Committee decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points to 3.75% to 4%(keeping it at 3.5% to 3.75%)to support the Federal Reserve's dual mandate. The Committee will continue its policy of maintaining ample reserves in the banking system.
Economic activity is expanding at a steady pace. Despite high levels of uncertainty due to factors such as geopolitical developments, domestic spending has remained resilient.(Although uncertainty remains high due to factors such as the Middle East conflict.)Productivity growth is robust, and capital investment is solid.Employment growth is in line with labor supply, and the unemployment rate has remained relatively stable.
Inflation remains high. Today’s policy action will help achieve the Committee’s 2 percent target more promptly .(Inflation remains high relative to the Committee’s 2 percent target, partly reflecting supply shocks that have driven price increases in certain sectors, such as energy.)The Committee will pursue price stability.(Those who voted against this monetary policy action were Beth M. Hammack, Neel Kashkari, and Lorie K. Logan, who favored raising the target range for the federal funds rate by 25 basis points at this meeting.)
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