Futures point to a flat open
U.S. stock futures were little changed on Tuesday morning after all three major averages rose to new highs to kick off November.
As of 5:30 a.m. ET, futures for the technology-focused Nasdaq 100 were down 25.5 points, or 0.16% to 15,868.75. Futures tied to the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 were little changed.
On Monday, the Dow briefly climbed above 36,000 for the first time, hitting 36,009.74 a few minutes after the opening bell. The benchmark later gave away those gains and closed the session up 94.28 points, or 0.3%, to 35,913.84.
The S&P 500 gained 8.29 points, or 0.2%, to finish at 4,613.67 while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 97.53 points, or 0.6%, to end at 15,595.92, its sixth straight day of gains.
Fed kicks off its monetary policy meeting
Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve will begin its closely watched two-day monetary policy meeting later today, where it is widely expected to announce that it will start tapering its $120 billion monthly bond-buying program.
The meeting will conclude on Wednesday afternoon, with Chairman Jerome Powell scheduled to hold a press conference to give more details on the Fed’s monetary policy plans.
Fed policymakers announced the massive bond-buying stimulus in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic to help encourage spending and borrowing.
While economists don’t expect the Fed to hike its benchmark interest rate from near zero at the meeting, Powell and his colleagues will likely begin scaling back the bond-buying program to head off a spike in consumer prices.
Lyft, Pfizer, Amgen, earnings on tap
Earnings season continues today, with Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS), and Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) among the major companies releasing results.
Analysts expect Lyft (NASDAQ: LYFT) to report Q3 loss of 3 cents per share on revenue of $862.69 million after the market close.
Pfizer is expected to report third-quarter earnings of $1.08 per share on revenue of $22.41 billion before the opening bell.
T-Mobile is projected to have earned 52 cents per share on revenue of $20.18 billion for the latest quarter. Amgen is seen reporting earnings of $4.27 per share and revenue of $6.69 billion.
Other major earnings to watch today include Under Armour (NYSE: UAA), Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL), Estee Lauder Cos (NYSE: EL), ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP), Zillow (NASDAQ: ZG), and Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI).
