Welcome to the first trading day of November.
Here are three things you need to know before the opening bell rings in New York:
1. Timid trading after stocks hit records: It looks like stocks could start the month on the back foot after October’s fireworks. U.S. futures are edging lower and there’s a lack of direction in the markets.
European markets were edging lower in early trading. Asian markets ended with mixed results.
October was an explosive month, ending with a bang on Friday. The Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq rallied by more than 1% on Halloween. Both the Dow and the S&P 500 closed at record highs and the Nasdaq is at its highest point since the March 2000 Dot-com peak.
The latest reading on the CNNMoney Fear & Greed index shows investors are still feeling fearful, but the extreme fear from mid-October has been shaken out of the markets.
2. Earnings: Sysco and Sprint will report quarterly earnings before the opening bell. Herbalife will report after the close.
L’Oreal is expected to report after the close of trading in Paris.
HSBC reported earnings in the early morning. Third quarter underlying pretax profit fell 12%, in part because the global bank set aside $378 million to cover its exposure to an investigation into alleged rigging of the foreign exchange market. Its shares were about 0.5% lower in London trading.
3. Economics: The ISM Manufacturing Index is set to come out at 10 a.m. ET. At the same time, the U.S. government will report monthly construction spending.
At 2 p.m. ET, the Commerce Department will release data on monthly auto and truck sales.
