Futures slightly lower as Fed chair decision looms
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[October 30, 2017]
By Sruthi Shankar
(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures
pointed to a lower opening for Wall Street on Monday as investors held
back from making big bets ahead of a decision on the next Federal
Reserve head.
* U.S. President Donald Trump is leaning toward nominating Fed Governor
Jerome Powell to be the next Fed chair, sources told Reuters.
* The decision is expected this week even as the central bank gathers
for its two-day policy meeting, starting Tuesday. The Fed is widely
expected to stay put on interest rates at the meeting.
* Nasdaq powered to its best day in nearly a year amid gains across all
major indexes, led by a surge in the technology sector.
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* With the third-quarter earnings season more than half-way through,
nearly 74 percent of the S&P 500 companies that have posted earnings so
far have topped profit expectations, compared with 72 percent overall
the past four quarters.
* Apple and Facebook are the top companies reporting this week.
* Among economic data, a report on consumer spending, which accounts for
more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, is likely to show it
increased 0.8 percent in September, after edging up 0.1 percent in
August. The report is due at 8:30 a.m. ET.
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![](../images/103017pics/busine28.jpg)
Morning commuters are
seen outside the New York Stock Exchange, July 30, 2012.
REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo
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* The investigation into possible Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential
election will enter a new phase as early as Monday, when the first charges
resulting from the probe could be unsealed and a target taken into custody.
* Among stocks, General Motors fell 2 percent in premarket trading after Goldman
Sachs downgraded the company's stock to "sell" from "neutral".
* Merck dipped 5 percent after the company said it withdrew an application for
European use of its Keytruda cancer immunotherapy.
* Advanced Micro Devices slipped 3.55 percent after Morgan Stanley downgraded
the stock to "underweight" from "equalweight".
(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
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