"Job gains have been strong, on average, in recent months, and the unemployment rate has declined. Household spending has continued to grow strongly, while growth of business fixed investment has moderated from its rapid pace earlier in the year. On a 12-month basis, both overall inflation and inflation for items other than food and energy remain near 2 percent. Indicators of longer-term inflation expectations are little changed, on balance."

-A Federal Reserve statement issued last week after the bank decided to keep the target range for its benchmark interest rate unchanged, in a band of 2 percent to 2.25 percent.