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Fed meeting schedule for 2025 and 2026
The next Fed meeting, which runs from October 28 to October 29, marks the seventh gathering of 2025. That means there’s one more to go after that.
“The committee meets eight times a year, or about once every six weeks,” writes Kiplinger contributor Dan Burrows in his feature, “When Is the Next Fed Meeting?“.
The Federal Open Market Committee “is required to meet at least four times a year and may convene additional meetings if necessary,” Burrows adds, noting that “the convention of meeting eight times per year dates back to the market stresses of 1981.”
Fed meetings last two days and wrap up with the release of a policy decision at 2 pm Eastern Standard Time. This is typically followed by the Fed chair’s press conference at 2:30 pm.
Here is the full Fed meeting schedule for 2025:
- January 28 to 29
- March 18 to 19
- May 6 to 7
- June 17 to 18
- July 29 to 30
- September 16 to 17
- October 28 to 29
- December 9 to 10
And here’s the full Fed meeting schedule for 2026:
- January 27 to 28
- March 17 to 18
- April 28 to 29
- June 16 to 17
- July 28 to 29
- September 15 to 16
- October 27 to 28
- December 8 to 9
– Karee Venema
September CPI comes in lighter than expected
The September Consumer Price Index showed that President Donald Trump’s tariff policies have had a muted impact on cost pressures – and all but guarantees the Federal Reserve will lower the federal funds rate on Wednesday afternoon.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, headline CPI was up 0.3% month over month in September, slower than the 0.4% rise seen in August and the 0.4% increase economists expected.
The CPI was 3.0% higher year over year, a quicker pace than the month prior. Still, the results arrived below the 3.1% increase economists anticipated.
Gas prices were the biggest contributor to the increase in headline CPI, surging 4.1% from August to September. Food costs were also up last month, rising 0.2%.
Core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices and is seen as a better measure of underlying inflation trends, rose 0.2% month over month and 3.0% year over year – coming in below August’s figures and economists’ forecasts.
“Inflation might not be slowing, but it’s not surprising to the upside anymore,” says David Russell, global head of market strategy at TradeStation. “The details are positive, with shelter and transportation services moderating. Some key parts of the basket are cooling even if tariffs nudge items like apparel higher.”
Russell adds that the September CPI report keeps the Fed on track to cut rates by a quarter-percentage point at next week’s meeting, and will likely have policymakers striking a more dovish stance moving forward.
While delayed from its originally scheduled October 15 reporting date, the BLS released today’s data so that the Social Security Administration could calculate the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). But with data collection services still suspended, it’s unclear when we’ll see the next CPI report.
– Karee Venema
Karee Venema
With over a decade of experience writing about the stock market, Karee Venema is the senior investing editor at Kiplinger.com. She joined the publication in April 2021, and oversees a wide range of investing coverage, including content focused on equities, fixed income, mutual funds, ETFs, macroeconomics and more.
