Kevin Warsh changed something the Fed has not touched in decades

Kevin Warsh promised to shake up the Federal Reserve, and his October meeting showed he meant it. Alongside a decision to hold rates at 3. 75% to 4%, the Fed chair rolled out a plan that one strategist called “the most ambitious overhaul of how the Fed operates in decades.” The change goes to the heart of how markets track the Fed. It is the first change to the central bank’s meeting calendar since the early 1980s, when the Federal Open Market Committee cut its schedule from 12 meetings a year to eight. The number of meetings is not changing, but their purpose is. “We believe eight meetings per year is the right number for the FOMC,” Warsh told reporters on October 28.