Federal Reserve officials are expected to keep interest rates steady at their two-day policy meeting that concludes today - DJ

They will likely discuss the economy, financial markets and the future path of rates, among other topics.

This will be Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's last meeting without a press conference afterward.

The central bank issues a policy statement at 2 p.m. ET, and officials aren't releasing new economic projections.

Employers have added jobs at a steady pace, likely firming Fed officials' plans to raise rates in December. Their statement should again describe the labor market as strong.

On the other hand, the interest-rate sensitive housing sector is slowing amid rising mortgage rates. And business investment was surprisingly soft during the third quarter.

Officials' September statement stopped describing rates as "accommodative," or low enough to stimulate the economy. Mr. Powell said then that rates were still accommodative, but the language had grown stale because it no longer said anything meaningful about policy going forward.

The challenge ahead is to parse financial and economic developments to determine whether rates are edging closer to a neutral setting that neither spurs nor slows growth.