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Warsh Holds His First FOMC Press Conference as Fed Chair, Jun. 17, 2026

June 17, 2026 · Federal Reserve · 0:42:38

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Chair Kevin Warsh held his first Federal Open Market Committee press conference as Federal Reserve Chair on June 17, 2026, after the Committee voted unanimously, 12–0, to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 3.50 to 3.75 percent, where it had stood since December 2025, according to the FOMC statement. The post-meeting statement was cut to roughly 130 words and stripped of the forward-guidance language that had been a fixture of the Powell era; Warsh told reporters that forward guidance “was not well suited to the current policy conjuncture” and that the shorter statement “just gives you the facts, as best we can judge it.”

Warsh said the members of the FOMC were “unambiguous and unanimous that this committee will deliver price stability,” noting that inflation had run above the Committee’s 2 percent goal for more than five years even as economic activity expanded at what the statement called a solid pace. He declined to submit his own projection to the Summary of Economic Projections — “I have encouraged my colleagues to continue to do so. I, however, have refrained from offering projections of my own” — while the projections that were submitted moved the median expected year-end 2026 rate up to 3.8 percent, from 3.4 percent in March, with nine of eighteen participants penciling in at least one rate increase this year, as the projections were reported the same day. Warsh also announced five task forces to review the Fed’s communications, balance sheet, data sources, productivity and jobs, and inflation framework.

Why it matters

This press conference is the founding document of the Warsh chairmanship this chronicle tracks on the Economy hub: a unanimous hold paired with a hawkish communications break — no forward guidance, no chair’s dot, and a committee median pointing toward a hike — delivered by the chair President Trump appointed while demanding rate cuts. The September 16, 2026 rate increase was the follow-through this debut signaled.

Scoreboard watch

This is a candidate item for the weekly scoreboard: Warsh’s first FOMC decision (unanimous hold at 3.50–3.75 percent), the end of forward guidance, the 3.8 percent median year-end projection, and the five framework task forces — each as stated in the FOMC statement, the Summary of Economic Projections, and the June 17, 2026 press conference, to be checked against the September 2026 FOMC decision.

Sources: Federal Reserve, “FOMC Press Conference, June 17, 2026” (the Federal Reserve’s official upload, embedded above); FOMC statement and Summary of Economic Projections, June 17, 2026; press conference transcript, Federal Reserve. All figures and characterizations as stated by Chair Warsh and the Committee.