What is the FOMC, and why does it move every market at once?

The FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) is the group inside the Federal Reserve that decides on interest rates. Eight scheduled meetings per year. Each one can shift stocks, crypto, bonds, and currencies in minutes.

They vote on whether to raise, lower, or hold the federal funds rate. That's the rate banks charge each other overnight, and it ripples through everything: mortgage rates, car loans, corporate debt, even risk appetite in crypto.

But the rate decision itself isn't always the biggest move. The press conference after is where the real signals come from. One sentence from the Fed Chair about "patience" or "data dependence" can flip market direction faster than the actual number.

Important: markets often price in the expected decision weeks before the meeting. The surprise isn't what they do. It's what they say about what comes next.