INTC Intel Corporation

The major U.S. index futures are currently pointing to a roughly flat open on Monday, with stocks likely to show a lack of direction in early trading.

Traders may be reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the U.S. elections on Tuesday, as Vice President Kamala Harris faces off against former President Donald Trump.

With polls showing an extremely tight race between Harris and Trump, the outcome of the presidential election may not be known on Election Day.

The results of House and Senate races are also likely to be in focus, as the makeup of Congress could affect how much the next president can accomplish.

Traders are also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy decision, which is due to be announced on Thursday.

The Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by another 25 basis points, but traders will be looking to the accompanying statement for clues about the likelihood of future rate cuts.

Following the sell-off seen during Thursday’s session, stocks showed a strong move back to the upside in early trading on Friday. The major averages gave back some ground over the course of the trading day but remained firmly in positive territory.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the way higher, advancing 144.77 points or 0.8 percent to 18,239.92 after moving sharply lower over two previous sessions. The Dow also climbed 288.73 points or 0.7 percent to 42,052.19, bouncing off its lowest closing level in over a month, while the S&P 500 rose 23.35 points or 0.4 percent to 5,728.80.

Despite the rebound on the day, the major averages all moved to the downside for the week. The Dow dipped by 0.2 percent, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq slumped by 1.4 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.

The rebound on Wall Street partly reflected a positive reaction to upbeat earnings news from big-name companies like Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN).

Semiconductor giant Intel soared by 7.8 percent after reporting better than expected third quarter results and providing strong guidance.

Shares of Amazon also spiked by 6.2 percent after the online retail giant reported third quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates on both the top and bottom lines.

On the other hand, shares of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) moved to the downside even though the tech giant reported better than expected fiscal fourth quarter results.

Traders were also digesting the Labor Department’s closely watched report, which showed much weaker than expected job growth in the month of October.

The Labor Department said non-farm payroll employment crept up by 12,000 jobs in October after jumping by a downwardly revised 223,000 jobs in September.

Economists had expected employment to climb by 113,000 jobs compared to the surge of 254,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the report said the unemployment rate came in at 4.1 percent in October, unchanged from September and in line with economist estimates.

While the data raised some concerns about the strength of the economy, the report also led to renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

However, due the impact of Hurricanes Helene and Milton and the Boeing (NYSE:BA) strike, the report may not affect the Federal Reserve’s plan to gradually lower rates.

Retail stocks moved sharply higher on the heels of the upbeat results from Amazon, driving the Dow Jones U.S. Retail Index up by 2.6 percent to a record closing high.

Considerable strength was also visible among biotechnology stocks, as reflected by the 2.2 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index.

Airline, networking and computer hardware stocks also saw significant strength, while notable weakness emerged among utilities and natural gas stocks.

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