The statement that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) released on 10 December 2025 had six parts and a 9 to 3 vote. Nine members backed a cut of 1/4 percentage point. One wanted a cut twice that size, while two wanted no cut.
The statement is the first document the Federal Reserve publishes on decision day. This guide reads it in order, then follows how the wording changed through September 2026.
What is an FOMC statement? The FOMC statement is the document the Federal Open Market Committee publishes at 2:00 pm Eastern time on the last day of each meeting. It sets out the interest rate decision and the vote. It also describes the economy and inflation.
Each sentence is the Committee's own description, so a changed word between two statements is a changed description.
The statement records who voted against and what each member preferred instead.
Since June 2026 the statements are shorter than the six-part layout of 2025, with the vote count in the first line.
What an FOMC statement contains
The FOMC meets eight times a year. Each scheduled meeting ends with a statement at 2:00 pm Eastern time, with an implementation note. The Chair's press conference follows at 2:30 pm.
We explain the dates in FOMC Meeting Schedule and the voting members in What Is the FOMC? The Fed's wider job is in What Does the Fed Do?
Source: Federal Reserve Board (FOMC statements of 10 December 2025 and 16 September 2026); YX Insights
The chart sets out the layout of two statements. The 2025 statement has six parts. The 2026 statement has the vote count in its first line, then three paragraphs.
The next sections follow the longer layout.
The economic assessment
The first paragraph describes growth, jobs and inflation. On 10 December 2025 it said economic activity "has been expanding at a moderate pace". It said job gains "have slowed this year" and that unemployment "has edged up through September".
Inflation, it said, "has moved up since earlier in the year and remains somewhat elevated".
We explain these in What Is the Unemployment Rate? and, for the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index, What Is PCE Inflation?
The goals and the balance of risks
The second paragraph restates the goal. The Committee "seeks to achieve maximum employment and inflation at the rate of 2 percent over the longer run". These two aims are the dual mandate.
We explain the 2% figure in Why Does the Fed Target 2% Inflation?
The paragraph also says the Committee "is attentive to the risks to both sides of its dual mandate". The 17 September 2025 statement said it "judges that downside risks to employment have risen".
The October and December 2025 statements said those risks "rose in recent months". From January 2026 the sentence about downside risks no longer appears.
The rate decision
The decision is in the third paragraph. On 10 December 2025 it read: "the Committee decided to lower the target range for the federal funds rate by 1/4 percentage point to 3-1/2 to 3-3/4 percent".
The sentence gives the verb (lower, maintain or raise), the size and the new range of 3.5% to 3.75%. We explain the rate in What Is the Fed Funds Rate?
The sentence also gives a reason: "In support of its goals and in light of the shift in the balance of risks".
What the Committee says it will weigh next
The rest of paragraph three and all of paragraph four say the Committee will assess incoming data, the outlook and the balance of risks. They add that it would be prepared to adjust policy if risks emerge that could impede its goals.
The phrase "the extent and timing of" comes before "additional adjustments" in the statements from 18 December 2024 to 30 July 2025. It is absent from the September and October 2025 statements.
The 10 December 2025 statement restored it. It is absent again from 17 June 2026.
The balance-sheet paragraph
The fifth paragraph is about the Fed's holdings of securities. In December 2025 it said reserve balances "have declined to ample levels".
It said the Committee "will initiate purchases of shorter-term Treasury securities as needed". The statement gives the purpose as maintaining "an ample supply of reserves on an ongoing basis". The June 2026 minutes use the term "reserve management purchases".
Reserves are the deposits banks hold at the Fed. We explain them in What Are Bank Reserves? and the holdings in The Fed Balance Sheet Explained.
The statements from January to April 2026 had no balance-sheet sentence. From June 2026 one returned, about "maintaining ample reserves".
The vote and the dissents
The vote is the last paragraph of the longer layout. On 10 December 2025 it named the nine members who voted for the action.
It then named the three who voted against, with what each preferred. Stephen Miran preferred a cut of 1/2 percentage point. Austan Goolsbee and Jeffrey Schmid preferred no change.
Source: Federal Reserve Board (FOMC statements); YX Insights
The chart counts the votes against at nine statements, by what the member preferred.
In April 2026 three of the four members who voted against supported maintaining the range. The statement says they "did not support inclusion of an easing bias in the statement at this time".
An easing bias is language that points to lower rates as the likely direction of future decisions. The June 2026 minutes use the phrase "easing bias regarding the likely direction of the Committee's future interest rate decisions". They do not say which sentence of the April statement it was.
A dissent is not a forecast. Two members preferred a cut in January 2026. The range stayed unchanged at the next four meetings.
How the wording changed from September 2025 to September 2026
Source: Federal Reserve Board (FOMC statements); YX Insights
The chart lines up nine statements in three columns, with each cell's wording shortened. The chart's activity wording moves through three descriptions and its inflation wording through two. The September 2025 statement said growth "moderated in the first half of the year".
The October and December 2025 statements said "moderate pace". January 2026 said "solid pace".
The description of inflation lost the word "somewhat" in the April 2026 statement.
Two pieces of wording also disappeared in January 2026: the clause "in light of the shift in the balance of risks" and the sentence on downside risks to employment. Both appear in the September, October and December 2025 statements.
The April 2026 statement also began to cite a cause of inflation, "the recent increase in global energy prices". June and July 2026 cite "supply shocks". The 16 September 2026 statement cites no cause.
What the minutes record about the shorter statements
The statements since June 2026 have three paragraphs. The minutes of the 16–17 June 2026 meeting record a discussion of the change. A majority of participants "saw advantages in shortening the statement".
The minutes do not list those advantages. They record that most participants "preferred not to repeat" language that "had suggested an easing bias". Members then agreed the statement "would not repeat the language that had suggested an easing bias regarding the likely direction of the Committee's future interest rate decisions".
The shorter layout puts the vote count first, then the decision with one sentence on reserves, then activity and jobs, then inflation and the 2% goal. It ends "The Committee will deliver price stability."
The goals paragraph, the two forward-looking paragraphs and the list of those voting for the action no longer appear. Dissents still come at the end.
The implementation note
The implementation note is a separate page published with the statement. It lists the settings that carry out the decision. We explain the tools in How the Fed Sets Rates.
The note of 16 September 2026 raised the rate paid on reserve balances to 3.90%, effective 17 September. That is the interest the Fed pays banks on the deposits they hold with it.
It also set two overnight rates. A repurchase agreement (repo) is a loan of cash against securities.
The standing repo rate of 4.0% is the rate at which the Fed lends cash. The reverse repo offering rate of 3.75% is the rate at which the Fed takes in cash.
The order for reading the next statement
The parts can be read in this order:
The vote. First line in the shorter layout, last paragraph in the longer one.
The decision sentence. The verb, the size and the new range.
The changes. Each sentence set against the previous statement, including added or removed sentences.
The balance-sheet sentence. Whether the policy on holdings or reserves changed.
The implementation note. The settings behind the decision.
An FOMC statement is a record of what the Committee decided and how it describes the economy. Reading it means setting each sentence against the one before.
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Common questions about the FOMC statement
What time is the FOMC statement released?
The statement is released at 2:00 pm US Eastern time on the last day of each scheduled meeting, together with the implementation note. The Chair's press conference starts at 2:30 pm. The FOMC meeting schedule gives the dates and the UK times.
Where can I read the FOMC statement?
The statement is published on the Federal Reserve Board's website, federalreserve.gov, as a press release. The FOMC calendars page links the statement and the minutes for each meeting. The minutes come out three weeks after the decision and give a fuller account of the discussion.
What does "maintain the target range" mean in an FOMC statement?
It means the Committee left the target range for the Fed Funds Rate unchanged. In 2026 the statements used the word "maintain" at five meetings, from January to July, each time at a range of 3.5% to 3.75%. The September 2026 statement used "raise".
What is a dissent in an FOMC statement?
A dissent is a vote against the decision, recorded in the statement by naming the member and what that member preferred. There were 16 votes against across the nine statements from September 2025 to September 2026. See What Is the FOMC? for who votes.
What do the minutes say about the shorter FOMC statement?
The minutes of the 16–17 June 2026 meeting say a majority of participants saw advantages in shortening the statement, without listing those advantages. Members agreed not to repeat language that had suggested an easing bias. Statements since then have three paragraphs.
DISCLAIMER: This article is strictly educational. Any information or analysis in this note is not an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Nothing in this note is intended to be investment advice and nor should it be relied upon to make investment decisions. Any opinions, analyses, or probabilities expressed in this note are those of the author as of the note's date of publication and are subject to change without notice.