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FINANCIAL MARKET REVIEW FOR NOVEMBER 23, 2017 In its meeting yesterday, The Federal Reserve left the door open a crack for keeping interest rates unchanged until the end of year amid nagging doubts about the persistence of low inflation. Minutes of the Fed’s two-day meeting that ended Nov. 1 show the bank is still on track to raise interest rates soon, but the Fed used somewhat more ambiguous language than it did in September. The subtle shift in the Fed’s tone stems from growing questions among senior officials about the low level of inflation despite a surging economy and the tightest labor market in more than a decade and a half. Inflation worries aside, officials were quite pleased with the economy. They noted resilient growth despite a spate of devastating hurricanes in the early fall and saw improvement in most sectors of the economy. Yet taking note of a soaring stock market, several members worried that keeping interest rates too low could create a financial bubble. And some saw a higher risk of wage-related inflation from a booming jobs market whose pace of hiring they viewed as unsustainable. Against that backdrop Wall Street widely believes the central bank will raise the benchmark fed funds rate, now between 1% and 1.25%, by a quarter-point at the last meeting of the year on Dec. 12-13. The big question now is whether the Fed will stick to three planned rate increases in 2018 if inflation remains low. U.S. stocks were little changed on Wednesday, with telecom services shares among the biggest movers while the energy sector rose in line with gains in crude oil. The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 64.65 points, or 0.27 percent, to 23,526.18, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 1.95 points, or 0.08 percent, to 2,597.08 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC added 4.88 points, or 0.07 percent, to 6,867.36. Moves in Asian share markets were mostly minor with Japanese markets closed for a holiday and the United States off for Thanksgiving. Futures pointed to a slightly easier opening for the major European bourses. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS eked out a fresh 10-year peak with a rise of 0.15 percent, as did Hong Kong's main index .HSI. Moving to the currency market, against a basket of currencies, the dollar was huddled at 93.184 .DXY, having shed 0.75 percent overnight. The euro was enjoying the view at $1.1834 after climbing from $1.1731 on Wednesday. The dollar also crumbled to 111.27 yen , near its lowest since Sept. 20. The overnight move was the largest single-day fall against the yen since May. Sterling recovered losses it suffered during the delivery of Britain’s budget on Wednesday to trade slightly higher, with traders seeing little - even in downward growth forecasts - that dramatically changed the picture for the economy. Sterling had dipped to as low as $1.3213 as chancellor Philip Hammond delivered the budget, with traders citing disappointment that lower growth forecasts had not been made up for by new fiscal stimulus measures. But the pound recovered to trade at $1.3262 after Hammond finished speaking, up 0.2 percent on the day and up from the $1.3241 it had been trading at before the statement. Finally in the commodity market, Oil prices inched lower on Thursday, but still remained near their highest level in two-and-a-half years, a level reached after a report showed a fall in U.S. stockpiles. January West Texas Intermediate crude CLF8, -0.21% slipped 8 cents, or 0.1%, to $57.94 a barrel. On Wednesday, the contract finished up $1.19, or 2.1%, to $58.02 a barrel, the highest settlement value since June 30, 2015. On Thursday, January Brent LCOF8, -0.27% dropped 2 cents to $63.26 a barrel. U.S. oil prices jumped on Wednesday after the Energy Information Administration reported crude stockpiles fell by 1.9 million barrels for the week ended Nov. 17. That reading fell short of a forecast for a decline of 2.1 million barrels from analysts polled by S&P Global Platts. But investors were still cheered by the news, given recent rises in stockpiles. Growing crude production in the U.S. has been a key worry in the industry. Attention will now turn to the Nov. 30 meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. The cartel’s members and non-OPEC producers are widely expected to extend a deal to cut production and bring down global supply, which expires in March. The U.S., though, isn’t a signatory to that agreement. View our full economic calendar for a daily roundup of major economic events.