Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] Stocks remain broadly higher with just half an hour left in the session, with the major averages spending the afternoon in a sideways drift amid a lack of catalysts.

Investors will have another small batch of earnings to assess after the close today and before the open tomorrow, though the slate of names lacks any real market-movers. Q3 earnings season will kick off in earnest next week with the banks reporting.

Meanwhile, tomorrow's release of the September FOMC meeting minutes will put some focus back on the monetary policy outlook. Economic data and commentary from Fed officials since the September meeting have prompted a significant shift in expectations for the Fed's next move. The CME FedWatch tool now assigns an 80.6% probability to the Fed keeping rates unchanged at the October meeting, up from 77.9% yesterday and 49.1% one week ago.