On Wednesday, June 17, 2026 FOMC Chair Kevin Warsh gave the scheduled June 2026 FOMC Press Conference. (link of video and related materials)
Below are Kevin Warsh’s comments I found most notable – although I don’t necessarily agree with them – in the order they appear in the transcript. These comments are excerpted from the “Transcript of Chair Warsh’s Press Conference“ (preliminary)(pdf) of June 17, 2026, with the accompanying “FOMC Statement” and “Summary of Economic Projections” (pdf) dated June 17, 2026.
Excerpts from Chair Powell’s opening comments:
As you saw a few moments ago, the Committee decided to maintain the target range for the fed funds rate at 3-½ to 3-¾ percent, in support of the Fed’s dual mandate. The Committee also reaffirmed its policy of maintaining ample reserves in the banking system.
also:
We recognize that inflation has been running well ahead of the Fed’s long-stated inflation goal of 2 percent that’s been going on for more than 5 years. Persistently high prices are a burden for the American people.
But the recent past need not be prologue. I am pleased to report that members of the FOMC are unambiguous and unanimous: This Committee will deliver price stability.
also:
On that score, you might have already noticed something: a difference in today’s policy statement. It’s a bit shorter, a bit simpler—and it dispenses with some older language.
That statement just gives you the facts, as best we can judge it. Absent, also, is so-called “forward guidance,” which we agreed was not well-suited to the current policy conjuncture.
also:
I am appointing a task force in each of five areas that are central to the broad conduct of monetary policy: First, Fed communications; second, the Fed’s balance sheet policy; third, our use and reliance on existing data sources; fourth, productivity and jobs in an era of transformation; and last, the Fed’s inflation frameworks.
These subjects are timely, consequential, and in my view worthy of a fresh look. My colleagues and I discussed them with energy and purpose over the last couple of days.
Excerpts of Kevin Warsh’s responses as indicated to various questions:
COLBY SMITH. Thank you so much, Colby Smith with the New York Times. You’ve in the past said that inflation is a choice and in the policy statement it includes this pledge to deliver price stability, as you’ve reiterated today. But looking at the SEP, the bulk of your colleagues expect core PCE to run around 3.3 percent by yearend and for the 2 percent inflation target not to be reached until 2028. So I’m curious how patient you think the Fed can afford to be at this juncture in terms of waiting for one-time inflation waves to wash through and for underlying inflation to step down after so many years of inflation running above target, and under what circumstances you would support the Fed taking some action and raising rates.
CHAIRMAN WARSH. Sure. So quite a bit there. Let me try to break that into pieces. First, we have the capability and commitment to deliver on our price stability objective of 2 percent. That’s exactly what we’re going to do. In the Fed’s review of its strategy over the last any number of years—in January the Fed, including the strategy that we’re still bound by, the Fed statement says that inflation is primarily determined by monetary policy. You bet it is. I’ve said for years inflation is a choice. You bet it is. And today I’m announcing that this committee unambiguously and unanimously have decided we are going to deliver on that.
Rest of your question sounded like an encouragement for me to give forward guidance. We’ve dropped forward guidance. Some along the committee I think dropped it, I suspect from our discussion last couple of days, because they said at this moment in time, it doesn’t feel as though providing forward guidance is right. Others have, I’d say, different views and think as a general proposition forward guidance isn’t the business we should be in. But that’ll be taken up by the task force on communications, and my policymaker colleagues we’re going to listen hard to what the experts say and make our own decision. But I can’t give any forward guidance about what we’re going to do next. The good news is we’ll be meeting in six weeks.
COLBY SMITH. So just following up, I guess on the current policy settings then, I am curious how restrictive you think things are at the current moment, given the flow of data that we’ve seen and, you know, forecasts that are coming down the pipeline.
CHAIRMAN WARSH. Yeah. I’ve heard characterizations, both inside in the Fed about that. I’ll give you my own. It’s uneven. And if I look at the housing markets as one example, Fed policy isn’t the single determinant of the state of the housing market, but broadly I would say there Fed policy appears to be somewhat restrictive. I would have a hard time managing to say those words if I were to see what’s happening in financial markets, so I’d say it’s uneven. That’s perhaps a function of different transmission mechanisms of monetary policy, whether monetary policy is coming from our interest rate tool or our balance sheet tool. But the good news, we have a task force on that, too, and the balance sheet task force will be looking more at that subject.
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The Special Note summarizes my overall thoughts about our economic situation
SPX at 7495.99 as this post is written
