Dow Jones Today: Stock Futures Little Changed Ahead of Election, Federal Reserve Decision on Rates

Stock futures are fluctuating near unchanged Monday morning as investors brace for the U.S. presidential election and the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates later in the week.

Futures tied to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 were each up less than 0.1% about an hour before the opening bell, while those linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were down fractionally.

Stocks are coming off gains on Friday as encouraging earnings reports boosted technology stocks and the monthly jobs report reinforced expectations that the Fed will continue cutting its benchmark lending rate. Nonetheless, the Nasdaq had a seven-week win streak snapped, while the S&P 500 and Dow posted weekly losses for the second consecutive week.

Nvidia (NVDA) shares were up 2% in premarket trading following the late-Friday news that the AI investor favorite would replace beleaguered chipmaker Intel (INTC) in the Dow. Intel shares were down nearly 2%. Shares of Sherwin-Williams (SHW) were up nearly 5%, also on news that the paint maker will be included in the price-weighted index of major companies, replacing chemicals giant Dow Inc. (DOW).

Apple (AAPL) shares were down about 0.5% early Monday following news over the weekend that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A; BRK.B) continued to sell its stake in the iPhone maker during the third quarter. Other mega-cap technology companies were mixed, with Microsoft (MSFT) up slightly while Amazon (AMZN) and Meta Platforms (META) lost ground.

Shares of aircraft manufacturer Boeing (BA) were up slightly this morning, after surging more than 3% on Friday, ahead of a vote on the company’s latest deal with the union representing machinists who have been on strike for seven weeks.

After last week’s flurry of earnings reports from important tech companies, the calendar for corporate is results is relatively light on Monday. Among post-earnings-report movers this morning, Constellation Energy (CEG) was down 6% and Marriott (MAR) slid 2%. Shares of analytics software company Palantir (PLTR), which is due to report after the closing bell Monday, were also down about 2%.

While the corporate earnings schedule picks up in the coming days, investors are particularly focused on Tuesday’s presidential vote and the Fed’s interest rate decision on Thursday. The Fed, which cut its key lending rate for the first time in four years in September, is widely expected to trim the rate by a quarter percentage point this week.

The yield on 10-year Treausrys, which reflects expectations about the economy and where interest rates are headed, was down sharply this morning at 4.29%, from 4.36% on Friday.

Crude oil futures were up about 3% following news that the OPEC+ group of oil producing nations agreed to extend output cuts.

Gold futures were little changed from Friday at around $2,750 an ounce, after surging to a record high above $2,800 last week, while bitcoin was holding steady at around $69,000.