Published on: 2025-12-04
Markets keep asking the same practical question right now: when does the Fed actually sit down again, and what comes after that? With the last FOMC of 2025 just days away and the full 2026 calendar already published, there's no excuse for being fuzzy on the dates.
Quick Answer: The Next Fed Meeting in One Glance
Next FOMC meeting: Tuesday–Wednesday, 9–10 December 2025
Policy statement: released 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time on 10 December
Powell press conference: starts 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time, the same day
Meeting type: full Summary of Economic Projections (SEP) and dot plot update
This is the eighth and final scheduled FOMC meeting of 2025. The Fed has already held the January, March, May, June, July, September and October meetings; December is the clean-up act.
The official 2025 calendar from the Federal Reserve is:
| Meeting # | Dates (2025) | Status as of 4 Dec | SEP / Dot Plot? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jan 28–29 | Completed | No | First meeting of the year; committee membership rotation begins. |
| 2 | Mar 18–19 | Completed | Yes | First 2025 SEP; updated rate path and macro forecasts. |
| 3 | May 6–7 | Completed | No | "Interim" meeting between SEPs. |
| 4 | Jun 17–18 | Completed | Yes | Mid-year SEP and dot plot; important for revising the cuts path. |
| 5 | Jul 29–30 | Completed | No | July decision kept the funds rate at 4.25–4.50%. |
| 6 | Sep 16–17 | Completed | Yes | Autumn SEP; another 25 bp cut took the range to 4.00–4.25%. |
| 7 | Oct 28–29 | Completed | No | Fed cut again to 3.75–4.00%, ending balance-sheet run-off from Dec 1. |
| 8 | Dec 9–10 | Upcoming | Yes | Final 2025 meeting, with SEP and press conference; market sees high odds of another cut. |
Meetings marked with a star (*) on the Fed's calendar are projection meetings; they include an updated Summary of Economic Projections, including the famous "dot plot" for the policy rate. For 2025, that's March, June, September and December.
As a quick lesson, the Federal Open Market Committee meets eight times a year on a regular schedule, plus ad-hoc sessions if needed. By law, it has to meet at least four times, but in practice, it has used an eight-meeting pattern for decades.
The December meeting isn't just "one more date" on the calendar. It sets the tone for 2026.
The current federal funds target range stands at 3.75–4.00%, following a 25bps cut at the October meeting.
Futures pricing and Fed-watch tools show traders leaning heavily toward another 25 bp cut in December, with odds in the 80–90% band according to recent derivatives snapshots.
Bank of America and JPMorgan have both shifted to calling a December cut, after previously thinking the Fed might wait until early 2026.
So this final 2025 meeting is widely seen as the moment the Fed either confirms the easing cycle or signals a pause.
Because December is a SEP meeting, the Fed will also publish:
Updated forecasts for growth, unemployment, and inflation (PCE).
A refreshed dot plot showing where each FOMC participant thinks the funds rate should be over the next few years.
Given how uncertain the 2026 path looks, markets will dissect:
How many cuts do officials see for 2026
Where the long-run "neutral" rate is now.
Whether dissenting hawks or doves cluster at the extremes of the dots.
The Fed has already released a tentative eight-meeting schedule for 2026, confirmed on its official press site and the FOMC calendars page.
| Meeting # | Dates (2026) | SEP / Dot Plot? | What Usually Happens |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jan 27–28 | No | First meeting of the year; new regional bank voting rotation. |
| 2 | Mar 17–18 | Yes | First full SEP of 2026; dot plot often resets the rate-path debate. |
| 3 | Apr 28–29 | No | Fills the gap between SEPs; focus on data surprises and statement tweaks. |
| 4 | Jun 16–17 | Yes | Mid-year SEP; historically important for signalling how deep an easing cycle might go. |
| 5 | Jul 28–29 | No | Late-summer "maintenance" meeting unless data force a pivot. |
| 6 | Sep 15–16 | Yes | Pre-autumn SEP; often used to fine-tune the path into year-end. |
| 7 | Oct 27–28 | No | Last non-SEP meeting; generally for incremental adjustments and communication. |
| 8 | Dec 8–9 | Yes | Final 2026 meeting and SEP; locks in the year-ahead narrative. |
The Fed's own press release lays out the basic pattern:
Each scheduled meeting runs over two days in Washington, D.C.
A policy statement is released at 2:00 p.m. ET on the second day.
The Fed Chair's press conference starts at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Minutes of the meeting are published roughly three weeks later.
In addition, the FOMC can call unscheduled emergency meetings or conference calls if conditions demand it, such as during financial stress or sudden market dysfunction.
If you're trading around Fed events, knowing when the "blackout" starts is as crucial as knowing the actual meeting dates:
Official Fed policy states the blackout starts at 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time on the second Saturday before the meeting and ends at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on the day after the meeting.
Regional Fed banks summarise it as roughly 10 days before through the day after the meeting.
During this window:
FOMC participants and key staff don't give speeches or interviews on monetary policy.
They also face tight restrictions on personal trading, as highlighted by recent ethics cases.
For the December 9–10, 2025, meeting, the blackout runs from Saturday, 29 November, through Thursday, 11 December, according to the St. Louis Fed's blackout calendar.
The calendar tells you when the Fed meets. Markets care about what those meetings might deliver.
After October's cut to 3.75–4.00%, economists expect at least one more cut in December, then a slower easing path across 2026.
Bank of America, for example, now looks for two further cuts in June and July 2026, which would take the funds rate down to 3.00–3.25%.
Many view 2026 as a year when the Fed will seek to balance a cooling labour market against persistent inflation, carefully lowering rates without triggering renewed price pressures.
Those forecasts will ebb and flow with every CPI print and jobs report, but the decision days themselves are fixed. That's why having the calendar in front of you is so useful.
The next scheduled Fed policy meeting is the FOMC gathering on 9–10 December 2025, with the rate decision, statement and press conference on Wednesday 10 December at 2:00–2:30 p.m. ET.
The Fed has scheduled eight regular FOMC meetings for 2026, from 27–28 January through 8–9 December.
The Fed publishes the Summary of Economic Projections, including the dot plot, four times a year. In 2026, those meetings are:
March 17–18
June 16–17
September 15–16
December 8–9
On the second day of each meeting, the FOMC:
Votes on the federal funds target range and balance-sheet policy.
Releases a statement at 2 p.m. ET.
Holds a press conference at 2:30 p.m. ET with the Chair.
At SEP meetings, the Fed also releases a complete forecast set and dot plot.
In conclusion, the bottom line is straightforward: the next Fed decision day is 10 December 2025, and the 2026 playbook is already mapped out with eight dates that every trader should have pencilled in.
The debates about cuts, inflation and growth will keep shifting, but the calendar won't. If you're trading rates, FX, equities or credit, building your risk plan around those fixed meeting dates is non-negotiable.
Disclaimer: This material is for general information purposes only and is not intended as (and should not be considered to be) financial, investment or other advice on which reliance should be placed. No opinion given in the material constitutes a recommendation by EBC or the author that any particular investment, security, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person.
