U.S. stock futures were little changed Tuesday morning as investors awaited a key inflation report that could influence the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision next month. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (YM=F) rose 0.5%, while futures for the S&P 500 (ES=F) rose 0.2%. Contracts for the Nasdaq-100 (NQ=F) fell below the flat line after stocks rose on Monday. Investors will be watching the release of the consumer price index, which is expected to show a cooling in inflation. Economists forecast that inflation will rise 0.3% from the previous month and that core inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, will decline to 0.2%. Nvidia (NVDA) investors continue to reel from the board’s investigation into CEO Jensen Huang following reports of his affair with an alleged Chinese spy. Nvidia shares recovered slightly on Tuesday morning after falling more than 4% the previous day. Oil prices are falling, with Brent crude (BZ=F), the international benchmark, and WTI crude (CL=F), the US benchmark, falling more than 2%. While most of the third-quarter earnings season is in the rearview mirror, Nvidia-backed neocloud CoreWeave (CRWV) and quantum computing stocks Quantum (QBTS) and Rigetti Computing (RGTI) report results today after the bell. LIVE 6 updates Wall Street bonuses up for third year, pay expert says With 2026 in its final stretch, Wall Street looks poised for another bumper year of pay. Bonuses for most financial workers, due to be distributed in early 2027, are expected to increase for the third year in a row. That’s according to third-quarter projections released Tuesday by Johnson Associates, a Wall Street salary consultancy that for more than three decades has estimated annual compensation for financial workers. “We didn’t expect 2026 to be as good a year in terms of pay as it turned out to be,” Alan Johnson, the company’s founder and president, said in an interview. “We are at the top of the mountain,” he added. Read more: The stock market is doing some of the Fed’s dirty work The odds of a Fed rate hike are increasing. A strong jobs report last week further cemented the case for another increase, Yahoo Finance’s Hamza Shaban reports: And inflation figures due out today are expected to confirm that price pressures remain stubbornly high. Tool.But a new analysis from DataTrek co-founder Nicholas Colas suggests that the recent volatility on Wall Street is also posing a heavy lift for the Federal Reserve, potentially eliminating the need for further increases next year. Read more: Wall Street’s $1.6 Trillion Rebound May Look Like a Bottom; History says it often isn’t. Dip buyers didn’t wait long. Two sessions after the S&P 500’s worst day in 18 months, stocks added more than $1.6 trillion in value even as Nvidia continued to slide, Yahoo Finance’s Jared Blikre reports: The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose about 2.3% on Monday afternoon, its best day in seven months, while the Nasdaq-100 rose more than 3.4%, its best since May 2025. did the heavy lifting. AMD (AMD) and Broadcom (AVGO) rose approximately 9% to 13%, adding more than $200 billion in combined market value, more than Nvidia’s (NVDA) loss. Micron (MU), Applied Materials (AMAT) and Lam Research (LRCX) also rose. The hole is deep. The S&P 500 lost 4.4% on Nov. 5 (its worst day since the April 2025 tariff tantrum) and the Nasdaq (^IXIC) closed Friday about 11% below its Oct. 6 record, putting it in correction territory. Read more: Vanguard and Fidelity have a warning for retirement savers Yahoo Finance’s Ivana Pino writes: Fidelity and Vanguard recently released long-term forecasts for stock market returns, and both companies offered a sobering outlook for retirees: Returns on long-term investments are modest or expected to decline. Vanguard’s 10-year outlook suggests that U.S. stocks will generate an average annual return between 4.8% and 6.8% over the next decade. Fidelity’s 20-year forecast projects a 5.8% annualized return for U.S. stocks, or about 3.2% after inflation. That compares to the S&P 500’s historical average of about 10% since its launch in 1957. For retirees, these projections could translate into slower growth over time and less money in their retirement accounts if these predictions hold or decline. Read more. The Fed’s Waller leans toward a quarter-point rate hike in December, open to 50 basis points. Yahoo Finance’s Jennifer Schonberger reports: Federal Reserve Governor Chris Waller said Tuesday that he is leaning toward raising interest rates by a quarter percentage point in December. If the October inflation data released Tuesday morning is interesting, he is open to raising rates by 50 basis points next month. “Inflation is too high…this means that even if, as I expect, the monthly inflation rate improves in October, I am inclined to support an increase in our policy rate of 25 basis points at the December FOMC meeting,” Waller said in a speech in London. But if October inflation data turns out higher than expected, then stronger action may be necessary, Waller said. “In that case, I think a 50 basis point increase in the policy rate should be considered at the December meeting,” he said. “Raising just 25 basis points would put our credibility at risk, a risk I am not willing to take.” Good day. This is what is happening today. Economic data: ADP weekly employment change, Consumer Price Index (CPI) month-over-month (0.3% expected, 0.6% previous), Core (CPI) month-over-month (0.2% expected, 0.3% previous) Earnings Schedule: CoreWeave (CRWV), Petróleo Brasileiro (PBR), TransDigm Group (TDG), Honda Motor (HMC), Sea (SE), Alcon (ALC), Ecopetrol (EC), Venture Global (VG), Hesai Group (HSAI), Embraer (EMBJ), On Holding (ONON), KT (KT), Legend Biotech (LEGN), D-Wave Quantum (QBTS), Rigetti Computing (RGTI), Wix.com (WIX), StubHub Holdings (STUB), Sonos (SONO), eToro Group (ETOR) Catch up on some of the top news overnight: Vanguard and Fidelity have a warning for investors retirement savers Gold holds gains above $4,100 as oil slump eases inflation woes Nvidia CEO investigation will ‘force’ succession plan, tech investor says Anthropic reportedly plans to move forward with IPO plans Celebrity chef Robert Irvine talks about the big mistake fast food giants are making
