US pre-open: Futures in the green following last week's record closes

Wall Street futures were pointing to early gains ahead of the bell on Monday as market participants prepped for a week headlined by corporate earnings and the Federal Reserve's two-day policy meeting.

As of 1200 BST, Dow Jones futures were up 0.44%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 futures had the indices opening 0.41% and 0.38% firmer, respectively.

The Dow closed 89.08 points higher on Friday, with all three major averages seeing out the session at fresh record highs.

In focus ahead of the bell on Monday, reopening plays like Ford and Occidental Petroleum were trading higher, while shares in America's newest trillion-dollar company Tesla also advanced in pre-market.

As third-quarter earnings season carries on throughout the course of the week, with AMC Entertainment, Avis and Loews all reporting on Monday, traders were also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's two-day meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the central bank expected to reveal that it will soon start to unwind its $120.0bn monthly bond buying programme before halting it entirely by the midway point of 2022.

AvaTrade's Naeem Aslam said: "Today, futures in the United States and Europe are trading flat after stock markets ended October on a high note. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 both ended the month at all-time highs, with the Nasdaq posting its best monthly performance since November of last year.

"Investors should keep in mind that the Federal Reserve will meet this week, and payroll data for the previous month will be released as well. Today, stock traders will be analysing the ISM PMI data to see how purchasing managers see the US economy shaping up in the coming months."

On the macro front, IHS Markit's October manufacturing PMI will be published at 1345 BST, while last month's ISM manufacturing PMI and September construction spending data will follow at 1500 BST.