Federal Reserve Begins Two-Day Meeting; No Change in Rates Expected

It would be unusual for the Federal Reserve to move on interest rates this close to an election. Most economists and analysts believe the Central Bank will not make any change in interest rate policy at the 2 day meeting that gets underway way today in Washington D.C. The Federal Reserve will issue a statement after the close of the meeting Wednesday and may indicate a rate hike is coming in December. Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan also kept its policy on hold. However, it did revise down its inflation forecast following a series of poor economic data reports. The BOJ reiterated that it would purchase Japanese government bonds similar to its previous annual target pace. BP's (BP) - Get Report  quarterly profit was nearly slashed in half but that was better than expected. The oil giant had net profit for the 3rd quarter of $1.62 billion, trouncing expectations.