City sources predict the FTSE 100 will open around 17 points higher than yesterday's close of 6,774.73, tracking gains seen in the US overnight ahead of the Federal Reserve policy announcement due this evening.The Fed is expected to announce that it will maintain its $85bn in monthly asset purchases and keep the interest rate at 0.25% after the two-day meeting wraps. The market does not see the central bank tapering stimulus until March 2014 after a 16-day government shutdown earlier this month took at least $24bn out of the economy."[...] the majority of economists surveyed so far believe that the Fed will resist tapering until March 2014 earliest," said Spreadex Trader Max Cohen.Acting as a backdrop to these events will be the release of inflation figures for September. The US consumer price index (CPI) is expected to fall to 1.2% year-on-year last month from 1.5% in August. In Germany, the CPI for October is tipped to remain unchanged at 1.4% year-on-year. In today's UK company news, banking group Barclays posted a strong rise in its nine-month pre-tax profits from £962m to £2.85bn, while its mis-sold personal protection insurance (PPI) pay-outs were steady at £3.95bn. High Street clothing and homeware retailer Next reported an increase in third quarter sales, despite ongoing trading volatility, as it upwardly revised its earnings forecasts for the full year. Next Brand sales in the third quarter rose 4.3% after Next Directory jumped 10.7% and Next Retail rose 0.4%.Sales slowed in constant currencies at Pearson in the third quarter but the publisher remained on track to hit its full year earnings targets. Although the Financial Times owner saw 4% sales growth in the first nine months at constant currencies, down from 5% in the first half of the year, but on an underlying basis it remained at 2%.Petrofac, the international oil and gas services provider, will lead a partnership with Italian lump-sum contractor Bonatti to execute a 32-month Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contract for Sonatrach to extend the life of the Alrar gas field in south east Algeria. The contract value is more than $650m. NR