Futures Pointing To Roughly Flat Open On Wall Street

The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open on Tuesday, with stocks likely to show a lack of direction following the modest pullback seen in the previous session.

Traders may be reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

While the Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by another quarter point, there is considerable uncertainty about the longer-term outlook for rates.

CME Group’s FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 87.4 percent chance the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point on Wednesday but a 67.5 percent chance the central bank will leave rates unchanged in January.

Traders are likely to pay close attention to the wording of the Fed’s accompanying statement as well as Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s post-meeting press conference for clues about the likelihood further rate cuts.

Shortly after the start of trading, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its report on job openings in the month of October.

Stocks moved to the upside at the start of trading on Monday but moved lower over the course of the trading session. The major averages pulled back off their early highs and into negative territory.

The major averages staged a short-lived recovery attempt in mid-day trading but all ended the day in the red. The Dow fell 215.67 points or 0.5 percent to 47,739.32, the Nasdaq edged down 32.22 points or 0.1 percent to 23,545.90 and the S&P 500 decreased 23.89 points or 0.4 percent to 6,846.51.

The modest pullback on Wall Street may partly have reflected profit taking following recent strength in the markets, which saw the Nasdaq and S&P 500 reach their best closing levels in a month last Friday.

Overall trading activity was somewhat subdued, however, as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision on Wednesday.

“Markets may not rally if we get a 25 basis-point cut, given how investors are already expecting it to happen,” said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell.

He added, “Instead, markets are only likely to move in a large way up or down if we don’t get a cut or if the cut is much bigger than expected.”

Gold stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the session, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 2.1 percent.

Significant weakness was also visible among biotechnology stocks, as reflected by the 1.6 loss posted by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index.

Utilities, natural gas and healthcare stocks also saw notable weakness, while networking, computer hardware and semiconductor stocks saw some strength on the day.

Commodity, Currency Markets

Crude oil futures are slipping $0.05 to $58.83 a barrel after plummeting $1.20 to $58.88 a barrel on Monday. Meanwhile, after slumping $25.30 to $4,217.70 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are rising $11.80 to $4,229.50 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 156.44 yen compared to the 155.91 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Monday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.1632 compared to yesterday’s $1.1636.

Asia

Asian stocks declined on Tuesday ahead of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision on Wednesday, when the U.S. central bank is broadly expected to deliver a 25 basis point rate cut despite existing divisions with the committee.

Traders remain anxious about the Federal Reserve’s future easing pace, given conflicting trends of a cooling job market and sticky inflation, as well as gaps in the data due to the government shutdown.

The U.S. dollar was under pressure in Asian trading and gold traded below $4,200 per ounce, while oil prices were steady after slipping 2 percent in the previous two sessions.

China’s Shanghai Composite Index closed down 0.4 percent at 3,909.52 after the country’s top decision-making body, the Politburo, announced plans to strengthen domestic demand for 2026 with “more proactive fiscal policy” and “appropriately loose monetary policy”.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index tumbled 1.3 percent to 25,434.23, dragged down by tech stocks.

Japanese markets recovered from an early slide to end on a positive note. The yen steadied around 156.05 per dollar after slipping overnight as a magnitude-7.6 quake struck off Japan’s northeast coast.

The Nikkei 225 Index edged up by 0.1 percent to 50,655.10, while the broader Topix Index finished little changed at 3,384.92 ahead of the Bank of Japan’s policy decision next week.

Tech shares such as SoftBank Group, Advantest and Tokyo Electron closed higher after Nvidia Corp. was granted permission by U.S. President Donald Trump to ship its H200 artificial intelligence chip to China in exchange for a 25 percent cut of the sales. Chip-making tool manufacturer Disco Corp surged 4.7 percent.

Seoul stocks ended slightly lower on uncertainty over the Federal Reserve’s future policy path. The Kospi fell 0.3 percent to 4,143.55, snapping a two-session winning streak.

Semiconductor and auto shares fell on profit taking after recent strong gains. Samsung Electronics lost 1 percent, SK Hynix shed 1.9 percent and Hyundai Motor gave up 2.7 percent.

Australian markets declined as a hawkish RBA hold lifted rate expectations and pushed yields higher.

The Reserve Bank of Australia left interest rates unchanged for a third straight meeting as expected, citing inflation risks, and reiterated that price risks have “tilted to the upside.”

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index dropped 0.5 percent to 8,585.90 amid broad-based weakness led by miners. The broader All Ordinaries Index settled 0.4 percent lower at 8,875.80.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX-50 Index slipped 0.2 percent to 13,454.78, giving up earlier gains.

Europe

European stocks have struggled for direction on Tuesday as caution prevails ahead of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision on Wednesday.

The U.S. central bank is widely expected to deliver a 25-basis-point rate cut but prospects for 2026 look uncertain.

In economic news, Germany’s foreign trade surplus increased in October as exports rose amid a decrease in imports, official data showed.

Exports posted a monthly increase of 0.1 percent in October, though slower than the 1.5 percent recovery in September. Meanwhile, imports declined 1.2 percent after rising 5.1 percent a month ago.

As a result, the trade surplus climbed to EUR 16.9 billion from EUR 15.3 billion in September.

A report on U.S. job openings for October, due later in the day may provide important clues on the health of the U.S. labor market.

While the German DAX Index is up by 0.3 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is just below the unchanged line and the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.6 percent.

ThyssenKrupp has plunged after the industrial conglomerate warned of challenging conditions, expecting to swing to a net loss of up to 800 million euros ($931 million) in 2026.

British American Tobacco has also slumped. The cigarette maker said it expects 2026 trading to come in at the lower end of its mid-term targets.

Defense contractor Chemring Group has also moved to the downside in London after reporting higher-than-expected costs for its Norwegian expansion project.

Meanwhile, German wind turbine maker Nordex has rallied after winning new contracts in France and Belgium.

U.S. Economic News

The Labor Department is scheduled to release its report on job openings in the month of October at 10 am ET.

At 1 pm ET, the Treasury Department is due to announce the results of this month’s auction of $39 billion worth of ten-year notes.