In its first meeting since October's market turmoil and this week's midterm elections, the Federal Reserve voted to maintain the current level of its benchmark interest rate.

The policymaking Federal Open Market Committee, as expected, unanimously approved keeping the federal funds rate in a range of 2 percent to 2.25 percent. Markets figured the central bank would hold the line at this meeting and probably approve a quarter-point hike in December, which would be the fourth of the year.

There were a few tweaks to the way policymakers are viewing economic conditions.

On the upside, the committee noted that the unemployment rate "has declined" since the September meeting. The Labor Department last week reported that the headline jobless level was at 3.7 percent, the lowest since December 1969.

However, the statement noted that the "growth of business fixed investment has moderated from its rapid pace earlier in the year."

There was no detail or data given for why officials see investment declining, though companies reported during third-quarter earnings season that some of their investment plans have been curtailed due to the ongoing trade war between the U.S. and China.

The economy otherwise has been humming along strongly, and the FOMC reiterated its belief that "economic activity has been rising at a strong rate." GDP growth this year has averaged 3.3 percent for the first three quarters and is expected to come in around 3 percent for the final three-month period of 2018.

"We shouldn't be surprised by either comment as they are simply a summary of the recent data," Michelle Meyer, U.S. economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said in a note. "Interestingly, there was no mention of the softer housing data. Moreover, there was no mention of the sell-off in the stock market in October which implies that Fed officials were largely willing to shrug it off."