The FOMC statement lands at 2:00 p.m. Eastern on the second day of each meeting, followed by a press conference at 2:30. Markets move on the decision, the statement wording, the quarterly projections, and the chair's tone.
It is the single largest scheduled source of volatility for rates, the dxy, gold, and equity indexes. Many prop-firms ban trading around it.
Example: a 25-basis-point rate-hike that was fully expected moves little; the same hike with language hinting at more can move the S&P 2% in an hour.
Related: federal-funds-rate, rate-hike, quantitative-easing, economic-calendar, dxy