Fed expected to tee up December interest-rate hike

(RECAP: The Federal Reserve is not expected to leave anyone guessing. The central bank will use its two-day meeting Tuesday and Wednesday to put the market on notice that it intends to raise interest rates — in December. Economists expect the Fed to borrow a page from last year’s playbook to tee up a rate hike. Last October, the Fed policy statement said: “In determining whether it will be appropriate to raise the target range at its next meeting, the Committee will assess progress—both realized and expected—toward its objectives of maximum employment and 2 percent inflation.” Fed watchers saw the sentence as a clear hint of a move. And, in fact, the central bank followed through six weeks later with the first interest-rate hike in almost a decade. “I think that [sentence] pops up again,” said Tom Simons, a senior economist at Jefferies.)