Major indices looking to December Fed meeting for directions

LAST week, US stocks rallied for their biggest weekly gain of the year, helped by a tacit promise that the long wait for a change in Federal Reserve policy is set to end.

Yet, even after those gains, major indices are still basically flat for 2015 and are unlikely to stray too far from the flat line between now and the US Federal Reserve meeting in mid-December. If anything, 2015 looks set to go down in markets history as the year of waiting for Janet Yellen, the Fed chair.

Her Fed has teased markets with hints of an imminent policy change all year. On Wednesday, minutes from the October meeting indicated that most board members believe December "could well be" the time to act. That's about as close to a guarantee as central banks can give markets.