Stock Futures Tick Higher to Begin Week Featuring Fed Decision on Interest Rates; S&P 500 on Cusp of Record

Stock futures pointed slightly higher Monday to begin a week highlighted by the Federal Reserve’s decision on whether to cut interest rates, as major stock indexes approached all-time records.

Futures associated with the tech-heavy Nasdaq and benchmark S&P 500 were up 0.2% and 0.1%, resepectively, while those affiliated with the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average were near flat.

The three major equities indexes all have risen for back-to-back weeks, with the S&P 500, Dow, and Nasdaq entering Monday a respective 0.3%, 0.6%, and 1.6% from their record closing highs.

On Friday, a tame inflation report reinforced expectations that the Fed would cut interest rates this week. Investors expect officials to lower their policy rate by a quarter percentage point on Wednesday, with the CME Group’s FedWatch tool indicating financial markets are pricing in an 87% likelihood the central bank would cut its key rate to a range of 3.5% to 3.75%.

The 10-year Treasury yield, which influences interest rates on a variety of commercial and consumer loans, was around 4.16%, up from 4.14% at Friday’s close. Gold futures slipped 0.2% to $4,235 an ounce, while West Texas Intermediate futures, the U.S. crude oil benchmark, fell 1% to $59.50 a barrel.

Bitcoin was trading around $92,100, up from overnight lows above $89,000. The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the value of the greenback against a basket of foreign currencies, was little changed at 98.97.

In corporate news, shares of Netflix (NFLX) and Paramount Skydance (PSKY) were up a respective 1.5% and 2.5% and those of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) were down 1.5% after President Donald Trump said Sunday that Netflix’s $83 billion deal for WBD in which it outbid Paramount for the storied movie studio and HBO Max streaming service operator “could be a problem.” On Friday, Netflix stock fell nearly 3% and Paramount Skydance shares slumped close to 10%, while WBD stock jumped 6% following news of the deal.

Confluent (CFLT) shares skyrocketed nearly 30% following a report in The Wall Street Journal that IBM (IBM) was in advanced talks to buy the data-infrastructure firm for roughly $11 billion.

Also, shares of Carvana (CVNA), CRH (CRH), and Comfort Systems USA (FIX) rose a respective 9%, 7%, and 2% following news late Friday that the stocks would be added to the S&P 500 on Dec. 22 as part of the benchmark index’s quarterly rebalancing.