--- title: Federal Reserve issues FOMC statement description: Fed holds at 3-1/2 to 3-3/4 percent but the vote is 9-3 with all three dissenters wanting a 25bp HIKE. The full read is on Helious, with the market reaction. source: Helious canonical: "https://helious.io/news/00f3b8a1ec32f6fe5e72fe0b283fef05/federal-reserve-issues-fomc-statement" --- FED 29 Jul 2026, 18:00 UTC # Federal Reserve issues FOMC statement ## SPEECH DIGEST HAWKISH high confidence · 1.1k characters read Fed holds at 3-1/2 to 3-3/4 percent but the vote is 9-3 with all three dissenters wanting a 25bp HIKE. Language is unusually assertive on inflation: "The Committee will deliver price stability," with no balance-of-risks sentence and no data-dependent hedge. Growth described as solid with strong productivity and capex, labor market in balance, so nothing in the statement argues for easing. **What’s new: **Three hawkish dissents at one meeting is the genuinely new content and the largest single-meeting hawkish bloc in the modern era. Also new: the flat declarative "The Committee will deliver price stability" replaces the usual conditional balance-of-risks framing, and the statement offers no forward guidance in either direction. The hold itself was expected; the composition of the vote and the tone were not. ### KEY FINDINGS - 9-3 vote, with Hammack, Kashkari and Logan all preferring a 25bp increase at this meeting. Three dissenters pushing for a hike puts a live hike back on the table and effectively removes near-term cuts from the distribution. - "The Committee will deliver price stability" is stated unconditionally, with no offsetting reference to employment risks or to assessing incoming data. Removes the optionality traders had priced into the reaction function and skews the risk to further tightening. - Inflation elevated and explicitly attributed in part to supply shocks including energy, yet the Committee does not describe those shocks as transitory or look-through. Signals the Fed will not excuse an energy-driven inflation impulse, so a Middle East oil shock now reads as a hiking argument rather than a growth-risk argument. - Activity expanding at a solid pace, productivity and capital investment strong, job gains keeping pace with the workforce, unemployment little changed. No labor-market deterioration to lean on means the dovish case has no data anchor in this statement. - Balance sheet unchanged: the Committee is "continuing its policy of maintaining ample reserves in the banking system." No new information for funding markets or for front-end repo pricing. ### FROM THE DOCUMENT The Federal Open Market Committee approved the following statement for release by a 9 – 3 vote: Voting against the monetary policy action were Beth M. Hammack, Neel Kashkari, and Lorie K. Logan, who preferred to raise the target range for the federal funds rate by 1/4 percentage point at this meeting. The Committee will deliver price stability. Inflation remains elevated relative to the Committee's 2 percent goal, in part reflecting supply shocks that have driven price increases in certain sectors, including energy. The Federal Open Market Committee approved the following statement for release by a 9 – 3 vote: The Committee decided to maintain the target range for t he federal funds rate at 3-1/2 to 3-3/4 percent, in support of the Federal Reserve's dual mandate. The Committee is continuing its policy of maintaining ample reserves in the banking system. Economic activity is expanding at a solid pace despite elevated uncertainty that owes, in part, to the conflict in the Middle East. Productivity growth and capital investment are strong. Job gains have kept pace with the workforce, and the unemployment rate has changed little. Inflation remains elevated relative to the Committee's 2 percent goal, in part reflecting supply shocks that have driven price increases in certain sectors, including energy. The Committee will deliver price stability. [ Read the full Federal Reserve policy release at the source →](https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20260729a.htm) Copy link [Follow this live on the Helious desk →](https://helious.io/)