U.S. Stocks May Move Back To The Upside In Early Trading

Following the pullback seen in the previous session, stocks may move back to the upside in early trading on Tuesday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a higher open for the markets, with the Dow futures up by 219 points.

The upward momentum on Wall Street comes as traders look to the Federal Reserve’s highly anticipated monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by another 75 basis points, but traders are optimistic the central bank will signal plans to slow the pace of rate hikes at upcoming meetings.

Stocks may also benefit from unconfirmed reports China plans to ease its disruptive COVID-Zero policy by the end of this year.

Shortly after the start of trading, the Institute for Supply Management is scheduled to release its report on manufacturing activity in the month of October. The manufacturing PMI is expected to edge down to 50.0 in October from 50.9 in September.

The Commerce Department is also due to release its report on construction spending in the month of September. Economists expect construction spending to decrease by 0.5 percent.

U.S. stocks drifted lower on Monday, with investors making cautious moves as they continued to react to recent quarterly earnings updates from big-name companies and looked ahead to the Federal Reserve’s policy announcement due on Wednesday.

The major averages all ended on a negative note but still managed to post monthly gains after recording losses in the previous two months.

The Dow ended the session with a loss of 128.85 points or 0.4 percent at 32,732.95. The S&P 500 settled with a loss of 29.08 points or 0.8 percent at 3,871.98, while the Nasdaq dropped 114.31 points or 1.0 percent to settle at 10,988.15.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher during trading on Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index rose by 0.3 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index surged by 2.6 percent.

The major European markets have also moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index has jumped by 1.6 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is up by 1.4 percent and the German DAX Index is up by 1.3 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are jumping $1.87 to $88.40 a barrel after slumping $1.37 to $86.53 a barrel on Monday. Meanwhile, after slipping $4.10 to $1,640.70 an ounce in the previous session, gold futures are climbing $18 to $1,658.70 an ounce.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 147.05 yen compared to the 148.71 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Monday. Against the euro, the dollar is valued at $0.9946 compared to yesterday’s $0.9882.