Fed Expected to Hold Rates Steady

Worsening financial turmoil in Asia is likely to prompt Federal Reserve policymakers to leave U.S. interest rates unchanged when they meet Tuesday, despite signs of unabated economic growth at home. Most Fed watchers and Wall Street experts are convinced that the U.S. central bank will not want to wreak further havoc on world financial markets by raising the cost of money. However, a rate rise next year remains a possibility if the U.S. economy marches on at its red-hot pace, they said.