Federal Open Market Committee reaffirms its "Statement on Longer-Run Goals and Monetary Policy Strategy"
As part of its annual organizational meeting actions, the Federal Open Market Committee reaffirmed its "Statement on Longer-Run Goals and Monetary Policy Strategy," with a revision to clarify that it views its inflation objective as…
Source: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System2 min read
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As part of its annual organizational meeting actions, the Federal Open Market Committee reaffirmed its "Statement on Longer-Run Goals and Monetary Policy Strategy," with a revision to clarify that it views its inflation objective as symmetric, and with an updated reference to participants' estimates of the longer-run normal unemployment rate in the most recent Summary of Economic Projections (December 2015).
In October 2014, in preparation for the annual reaffirmation, the Committee discussed the potential benefits of amending the statement to clarify that its inflation objective is symmetric. As indicated in the minutes of that meeting, there was general agreement on the symmetry of the objective. Following further Committee discussion regarding the most appropriate way to express this clarification, the statement has been amended to indicate that the "Committee would be concerned if inflation were running persistently above or below" its 2 percent objective. All but one participant supported the amended statement.
The Committee first adopted the statement at its January 2012 meeting and has reaffirmed it, with appropriate revisions, at its annual organizational meetings each January.
Voting for the statement were: Janet L. Yellen, Chair; William C. Dudley, Vice Chairman; Lael Brainard; Stanley Fischer; Esther L. George; Loretta J. Mester; Jerome H. Powell; Eric Rosengren; and Daniel K. Tarullo. Voting against was James Bullard, who agreed the Committee's inflation goal is symmetric, but believed the amended language is not sufficiently focused on expected future deviations of inflation from the goal.
Statement on Longer-Run Goals and Monetary Policy Strategy (PDF) Amended January 26, 2016 Previous version: Statement on Longer-Run Goals and Monetary Policy Strategy (PDF) Amended January 27, 2015
Archived Nov 11, 2026. Source reuse policy. Formatting has been adapted for reading; the source’s conclusions remain attributed to its publisher.
MortgageRates.news analysis · Historical context
The mortgage market around this release
This original analysis is separate from the source article. It compares observed benchmarks around ; historical averages and yields are not current mortgage offers.
Separate policy decisions from mortgage pricing
The federal funds target concerns overnight bank borrowing. A fixed mortgage reflects a longer-term loan and its own market pricing. Read the decision and accompanying statement together, and distinguish an announced action from expectations about future actions. The before-and-after observations include the rest of the month’s information as well; they are calendar comparisons, not an estimate of the announcement’s isolated impact. Federal Reserve: how monetary policy works.
Nearest published observation on or before each target date
UnavailableBefore available coverage, which starts Jan 4, 2016.
2.02%Observed
1.76%Observed −26 bps vs. publication reference
Calendar references, not an intraday reaction. A same-day market observation may have been published after a morning release. These figures do not show what was known at its exact publication time. One basis point (bp) is 0.01 percentage point; changes use the actual dated observations shown.
Dots show published observations only. Missing dates remain blank, with no interpolation. The series have different publication schedules and measure different markets.
What that benchmark difference would mean for a $300,000 loan
At the publication reference$1,399.58/month
3.81% · Jan 21, 2016
At the later reference$1,367.31/month
3.62% · Feb 25, 2016
The illustrative principal-and-interest payment is $32.27 lower per month. This holds the loan amount and term constant to show the arithmetic effect of the benchmark difference.
Assumptions: two separate hypothetical $300,000 loans, each fully amortizing over 30 years with 360 monthly payments and its stated fixed interest rate. Excludes points, lender fees, taxes, insurance, association charges and other costs. PMMS is a national average, not an APR or a personalized rate offer. These are not two payments on one existing loan.
Sources, historical coverage and calculation limits
Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey®: available observations from Apr 2, 1971 through Nov 5, 2026. Cached history snapshot. History retrieved or verified Nov 11, 2026.
U.S. Department of the Treasury: available observations from Jan 4, 2016 through Nov 10, 2026. Cached history snapshot. History retrieved or verified Nov 11, 2026.
The 30-day comparisons use calendar days. Each cell selects the last published observation on or before its target; no rates are synthesized for missing dates. Gaps greater than seven days for daily Treasury data or fourteen days for weekly mortgage data are marked unavailable. Forward comparisons require the date to have arrived and source coverage to extend through it.
Historical files may contain revisions and do not reconstruct precisely what every market participant knew at the time. Freddie Mac changed its PMMS collection methodology in November 2022. Cross-period comparisons should account for that change. These windows include other news and cannot establish causation or forecast the next rate move.