When Is the Next Fed Meeting on Interest Rates in 2022?
The Federal Reserve will meet again soon. Here’s more about when the next meeting on interest rates will occur in 2022 and what to expect.
Feb. 10 2022, Published 12:52 p.m. ET
When Fed Chair Jerome Powell talks, the markets listen. That’s why policy meetings with the Federal Reserve hold a lot of clout. The last meeting in late January left Americans with the expectation that interest rates would soon rise and inflation will hopefully cool.
When will the Fed meet about interest rates next? Here’s the rundown on dates and what to expect.
The latest Consumer Price Index shows that inflation is still going strong.
On Feb, 10, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics publicized the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) data. The report says that the cost of all items rose 0.6 percent in January, which makes the 12-month inflation rate 7.5 percent.
The inflation rate is higher than expectations, which pinned the growth to be 7.2 percent. With the latest data on the table, inflation is at a 40-year high. However, data is actually starting to cool on a monthly basis, which is a good sign for Americans.
The Fed hopes that raising interest rates will cool hyper-inflation.
In the latest Fed policy meeting that ended on Jan. 26, the Fed announced that it would implement interest rate hikes by the time of the next policy meeting.
Atlanta regional Fed president Raphael Bostic said in an interview on Feb. 9, “What we have seen is inflation not get worse on a month-to-month level, and I am hopeful that will translate into a slow decline as we move through the spring and into summer.” He added, “What we have seen is inflation not get worse on a month-to-month level, and I am hopeful that will translate into a slow decline as we move through the spring and into summer.”
When is the Fed’s next 2022 meeting on interest rates?
The Fed’s next scheduled policy meeting is set to occur on March 15–16. The meeting is associated with a summary of economic projections, which means that we’ll also learn about what’s to come for America.
The Fed’s latest statement on longer-run goals and monetary policy strategy states, “The Committee judges that longer-term inflation expectations that are well anchored at two percent foster price stability and moderate long-term interest rates and enhance the Committee’s ability to promote maximum employment in the face of significant economic disturbances.”
The interest rate hikes are poised to start sometime after the mid-March meeting. Ian Shepherdson, the chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, told reporters that the Fed “will tread cautiously once they feel they have the trend inflation picture in hand. That should come by the middle of the year.”
Some experts say that these interest rates are a natural progression of an improving economy fighting its way out of a volatile pandemic era. With that in mind, it might not only be the Fed’s steadfast commitment to reducing inflation that’s causing the hikes.
After the March 15–16 Fed policy meeting, the Fed is scheduled to commune on May 3–4 and June 14–15.