U.S. stock futures were slightly higher early Monday, suggesting Wall Street may build on the modest gains achieved at the end of last week.

Optimism surrounding the near-term interest rate outlook continues to underpin sentiment ahead of the Federal Reserve’s policy announcement later this week. The central bank is broadly expected to trim borrowing costs by another 25 basis points, and traders will focus closely on the Fed’s messaging for clues about whether more cuts could arrive in early 2026.

According to CME Group’s FedWatch tool, markets now assign an 89.2% probability to a quarter-point reduction on Wednesday, though expectations turn more cautious for January, with only a 70.3% likelihood of another cut.

Friday’s session brought a mild upswing for equities after a largely directionless Thursday. The gains pushed both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 to their highest closes in a month.

Although the major averages pulled back from their intraday highs, all three finished in the green:

• Dow Jones Industrial Average: +104.05 points (+0.2%) to 47,954.99
• Nasdaq Composite: +72.99 points (+0.3%) to 23,578.13
• S&P 500: +13.28 points (+0.2%) to 6,870.40

On a weekly basis, the Nasdaq advanced 0.9%, the Dow rose 0.5%, and the S&P 500 added 0.3%.

The market’s modest move higher on Friday came after the release of the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, the PCE price index, which largely matched consensus forecasts.

The Commerce Department reported a 0.3% month-over-month increase in September, identical to August’s reading.

Year-over-year PCE inflation accelerated slightly to 2.8% from 2.7%.

The core PCE index, which strips out food and energy, rose 0.2% for the third straight month. Its annual rate eased to 2.8% from 2.9%, offering additional reassurance that price pressures continue to cool.

Still, overall buying enthusiasm remained muted since traders already widely anticipated a rate cut this week.

Sector-wise, computer hardware stocks extended Thursday’s strong rally, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index climbing 1.7%.

Airline shares also outperformed, gaining 1.5%, while networking, semiconductor, and software names posted solid advances.

In contrast, steel stocks retreated notably.

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