On Tap Today: Fed Meets; Applied Materials, Nordstrom Report

The Federal Open Market Committee convenes for its penultimate meeting of the year today. The FOMC is expected to leave the Fed funds rate unchanged at 6.5%, where it has been since May.

Investors will pay close attention to the committee's remarks -- to be released on adjourning -- for clues about where interest rates will head in the future. (

TheStreet.com

analyzed the implications of that statement in a separate

story.)

Elsewhere in the marketplace, a new group of companies -- including chipmaker

Applied Materials

(AMAT) - Get Report

and retailer

Nordstrom

(JWN) - Get Report

-- reports results.

Expected Earnings Reports

This table includes S&P 500 companies only. Dates are as expected according to First Call/Thomson Financial, and may change.

Economic Data

(

Forecasts are from

Reuters

. Times are Eastern. For a longer-term economic calendar and more, see

TSC's

Economic Databank.

)

7 a.m.: Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ended Friday. Source: Mortgage Bankers Associations. Refinancing Index: Forecast: n.a. Previous: 651.2. Purchase Index: Forecast: n.a. Previous: 310.5.
8:30 a.m.: Business inventories for September. Source: Census Bureau. Forecast: +0.3%. Previous: +0.7%.
9 a.m.: Federal Open Market Committee meeting. Source: Federal Reserve. The Fed's monetary policymaking committee holds its seventh meeting of the year in Washington. Any change in monetary policy will be announced at around 2:10 p.m.
9 a.m.: Treasury buyback announcement. Source: Bureau of the Public Debt. The Treasury announces the details of tomorrow's reverse auction.
9:15 a.m.: Industrial production for October. Source: Federal Reserve. Forecast: +0.2%. Previous: +0.2%. Capacity Utilization: Forecast: 82.1%. Previous: 82.2%.
6:30 p.m.: Consumer Comfort Index for the week ended Saturday. Source: Money Magazine and ABC News. Forecast: n.a. Previous: 28.