Investing.com - Global financial markets continued to digest key monetary policy decisions from the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan this week.
The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at the conclusion of its policy meeting on Wednesday, but hinted that a hike could come in December if the job market continued to improve.
At the same time, the U.S. central bank also cut the number of rate hikes it expects next year and in 2018, according to the median projection of forecasts released with its post-meeting statement.
The Fed has policy meetings scheduled in early November and mid-December. Economists believe policymakers would avoid a rate hike in November in part because the meeting falls just days before the U.S. presidential election.
Markets are currently pricing in a 15% chance of a rate hike at November's meeting, according to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool. For December, odds stood at around 60%.
The Fed's decision came shortly after the Bank of Japan kept rates unchanged at -0.1% following its latest meeting and announced that it would modify its policy framework, marking the latest attempt to boost inflation.
Among the changes, the BOJ said it would introduce yield curve controls, eliminate the maturity range of its bond purchases and abandon its monetary base targets.
Investors took a skeptical view of the BOJ's ability to generate inflation through the new measures however. The view in the market is that the Japanese central bank is running out of options. In contrast, the Fed continues to master market expectations on the timing of the next U.S. rate hike.
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