Fed expected to hike interest rates at end of Wednesday meeting

Federal Reserve policy makers wrap up their two-day meeting on Wednesday, and they are widely expected to bump up interest rates by a quarter percent for the third time this year. The meeting is Janet Yellen's last as chair. Her successor, Fed Governor Jerome Powell, said during his recent confirmation hearing that he had "no sense of an overheating economy," suggesting openness to speeding up rate increases as long as the economy continues to strengthen and inflation remains in an acceptable zone. When the Fed releases its statement at 2 p.m., analysts will be looking for indications of how the Fed expects the GOP's proposed corporate and individual tax cuts to affect the economy and the central bank's plans for more interest rate reductions in 2018.