The Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged in its last policy decision before the U.S. election, but signaled it could hike in December as the economy gathers momentum and inflation picks up. The U.S. central bank's rate-setting committee said the economy had gained steam and job gains remained solid. Fed policymakers also expressed more optimism that inflation was moving toward their two percent target. In a statement following a two day policy meeting, the fed committee judged that the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has continued to strengthen but decided, for the time being, to wait for some further evidence of continued progress toward its objectives suggesting the bar appears low for a rate increase at the final policy meeting of the year in mid-December. The fed's increasing confidence that prices were moving higher was reflected in its view that inflation has increased somewhat since earlier this year and the removal of its previous reference to