Futures Pointing To Modestly Higher Open On Wall Street

(RTTNews) - Stocks may move to the upside in early trading on Tuesday, adding to the strong gains posted in the previous session. The major index futures are currently pointing to a modestly higher open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by 0.1 percent.

The markets may continue to benefit from recent upward momentum, which propelled the major averages to new record highs on Monday amid optimism about a potential trade deal between the U.S. and China.

News of a rare metals deal between the U.S. and Japan may increase confidence ahead of President Donald Trump's meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping later this week.

Buying interest may be somewhat subdued, however, as traders look ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

While the Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by another quarter point, traders will be looking to the accompanying statement as well as Fed Chair Jerome Powell's post-meeting comments for clues about the likelihood of further rate cuts.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating 94.9 percent chance the Fed will lower rates by another quarter point in December, but the views about the chances of further rate cuts in early 2026 are more mixed.

Traders are also looking ahead to the release of earnings news from a number of big-name tech companies, with Alphabet (GOOGL), Apple (AAPL), Meta Platforms (META), Microsoft (MSGFT) and Amazon (AMZN) due to report their quarterly results in the coming days.

Not long after the start of trading, the Conference Board is due to release its report on consumer confidence in the month of October. The consumer confidence index is expected to dip to 93.4 in October after slumping to 94.2 in September.

After moving sharply higher early in the session, stocks continued to turn in a strong performance throughout the trading day on Monday. The major averages added to the strong gains posted last week, reaching new record closing highs.

The major averages saw further upside going into the end of the day, reaching new highs for the session. The Nasdaq surged 432.59 points or 1.9 percent to 23,637.46, the S&P 500 jumped 83.47 points or 1.2 percent to 6,875.16 and the Dow climbed 337.47 points or 0.7 percent to 47,544.59.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index slid by 0.6 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index dipped by 0.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets are turning in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.2 percent, the German DAX Index is just below the unchanged line and the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.1 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are slumping $0.92 to $60.39 a barrel after slipping $0.19 to $61.31 a barrel on Monday. Meanwhile, after plunging $118.10 to $4,019.70 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are tumbling $77.70 to $3,942 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 152.14 yen compared to the 152.87 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Monday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.1648 compared to yesterday's $1.1643.