How Federal Open Market Committee Meetings Drive Rates And Stocks

Janet Yellen was sworn in as Federal Reserve chair on Feb. 3, 2014. On March 18 and 19, she led her first Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. The meetings are about changes in Fed policy, based on the latest economic data, and are followed by public announcements that are important for investors and consumers. You can think of these meetings as the government equivalent of a quarterly earnings report, only with much higher stakes. These announcements have an immediate effect on interes...