WASHINGTON, DC, Oct. 28, 2026 —
The Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate unchanged Wednesday, keeping the target range for the federal funds rate at 3-3/4 to 4 percent, according to the Federal Open Market Committee's statement, released at 2 p.m. Eastern time.
The committee approved the statement by a 10 to 2 vote. "Voting against the monetary policy action were Lisa D. Cook and Beth M. Hammack, who preferred to raise the target range for the federal funds rate by 1/4 percentage point at this meeting," the statement says.
What the Fed said
- The economy. "Economic activity is expanding at a strong pace," the statement says. It says domestic spending has been resilient, productivity growth is strong, capital investment is robust, and "job gains have kept pace with the workforce, and the unemployment rate has changed little."
- Inflation. "Inflation remains elevated," the statement says. "The accumulation of more information will help the Committee determine the policy stance appropriate to ensure a timely return of inflation to the Committee's 2 percent goal. The Committee will deliver price stability."
- Uncertainty. The committee says uncertainty "remains elevated owing, in part, to geopolitical developments."
Other rates set Wednesday
In its implementation note, the Fed says that effective Oct. 29, 2026:
- The interest rate paid on banks' reserve balances stays at 3.90 percent.
- The primary credit rate, what the Fed charges banks that borrow from its discount window, stays at 4.0 percent.
- Standing overnight repurchase agreement operations run at 4.0 percent, and overnight reverse repurchase operations are offered at 3.75 percent.
What Chairman Warsh said
At his press conference after the decision, Chairman Kevin Warsh said Americans "are still dealing with inflation that has been running above the Committee's objective for close to 6 years. It's our responsibility to get inflation down," according to the Fed's preliminary transcript of his opening statement.
Warsh said "energy and related prices have moved higher again in recent weeks," and that the committee's job is to make sure price increases in some sectors "do not broaden out across the economy."
He also said growth in the first half of the year was revised up to 2.4 percent and that third-quarter growth was "likely running above 3 percent." He said the jobless rate is lower than a year ago.
Meeting schedule change. Warsh announced that the committee will keep eight meetings a year, but in 2027 one of them "will focus exclusively on broad monetary policy strategy, with neither a vote on the federal funds rate nor a policy statement anticipated." He said he expects two strategy meetings and six policy-setting meetings in 2028.
What it means for Floridians
The federal funds rate is the rate the Fed targets for overnight lending between banks. Wednesday's decision leaves it where the Fed put it on Sept. 16, when the committee voted 12 to 0 to raise it by a quarter point (Sept. 16 FOMC statement), and the Fed's discount-window rate for banks stays at 4.0 percent. The Fed hasn't said what it'll do at its next meeting; the statement says more information will guide its next move.
Launchpad Digital has asked the Federal Reserve Board for comment and will update this story when it responds.
Those are the facts, directly from the source.
Sources: Federal Open Market Committee statement and implementation note (Oct. 28, 2026); FOMC statement (Sept. 16, 2026); Federal Reserve preliminary transcript of Chairman Warsh's press conference opening statement (Oct. 28, 2026); @federalreserve on X.
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