The release of the meeting minutes of the members of the Federal Reserve coincides with the release of strong employment data from the United States

The term Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) refers to the branch of the Federal Reserve System (FRS) that determines the direction of monetary policy in the United States by conducting open market operations (OMOs). The Committee consists of 12 members, including seven members of the Board of Governors, the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and four of the remaining 11 Reserve Bank governors, who attend meetings on a rotating basis.

The FOMC minutes are a detailed report of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meetings and are published three weeks after each meeting. The minutes provide a briefer insight into the monetary policy stance of all committee members and how each member views the value of the dollar and other securities. Analysts examine these minutes to determine whether individual Committee members are contractionary or more accommodative in their statements, regardless of how the previous statements were released.

These minutes provide detailed information about the FOMC’s monetary policy stance, so forex traders will watch them closely for clues about the outcome of future interest rate decisions.

Minutes of the FOMC meeting were released at 7:00 p.m. on January 4.