Stock futures slightly lower with Dow on track for best month since 1976

Stock futures were slightly lower early on Monday morning ahead of the final day of October, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average poised to clinch its best month in decades.

S&P 500 futures were 0.12% lower, while Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 0.2%. Dow futures ticked down 14 points, or less than 0.1%.

The Dow is up 14.4% in October, which would be its best month since 1976. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite are also up for the month, putting Wall Street on track to snap a two-month losing streak.

The gains have come despite a mixed third-quarter earnings season from major companies, which has shown slowing growth and a few major disappointments from large tech companies.

Earnings season continues this week, with Uber, Pfizer and Advanced Micro Devices among the biggest names to report.

Traders will be preparing for the latest Federal Reserve meeting, which begins Tuesday. The central bank is expected to hike rates by three quarters of a percentage again on Wednesday, but many on Wall Street are looking for a signal from the statement or chairman Jerome Powell’s press conference that the Fed could pause its hikes in the near future.

“If J Powell gives the green light next week and doesn’t deliver a Jackson Hole type performance, there is very little to stop this move from a technical standpoint. A body in motion stays in motion,” Matt Fleury of Goldman Sachs wrote in a note on Saturday.