Futures linked to the S&P 500 index drifted lower on Tuesday, just a day after the benchmark hit a record high, where investor optimism over trade and interest rate cuts bolstered US stocks.

The S&P 500 index rallied +0.56% to close at an all-time high of 3,039; at the start of a busy week in corporate and economic data.

The blue-chip Dow Jones index added +0.45% to its value, while the Nasdaq Composite advanced +0.99%, helped by a rally in Microsoft (MSFT: +2.46%), after the Pentagon selected the software giant to receive a $10 billion cloud computing contract.

Momentum will likely now rest on the outcome of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision on Wednesday; where traders are pricing in a 95.1% probability of a rate cut, but only a 19% chance of a follow-up reduction in December, according to the CME FedWatch tool. 

Ahead, in today’s economic calendar, Tuesday includes; Consumer Confidence for October and Pending Home Sales data for September at 10am EST.

Also, Merck (MRK), Pfizer (PFE), Shopify (SHOP), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Electronic Arts (EA), Sprint (S), General Motors (GM), Mattel (MAT), Mastercard (MA), FireEye (FEYE), Kellogg (K), Mondelez International (MDLZ) and ConocoPhillips (COP) are amongst the major companies scheduled to publish their latest financial data today.

TODAY'S TOP HEADLINES
Brexit: UK Set for December Election to Break Impasse. (Bloomberg) 
The UK’s main opposition, the Labour Party, said it will back a December general election, putting the country on course for its third poll in four years.

ECONOMIC CALENDAR
Today's Economical Announcements.

10:00AM - ★★★ - CB Consumer Confi. (Oct) (Previous: 125.1)
10:00AM - ★★★ - P. Home Sales (MoM) (Sep) (Previous: 1.6%)

STOCKS IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Pre-Market Movers & News Related Stocks.

GrubHub (GRUB): [EARNINGS] Matched forecasts with quarterly profit of 27 cents per share, but the food-delivery service’s revenue came in below estimates. GrubHub also gave weaker-than-expected current-quarter guidance, as customers scour competitors to get the best deals.

Beyond Meat (BYND): [EARNINGS] Reported quarterly profit of 6 cents per share, doubling Wall Street’s consensus estimate. The plant-based burger maker’s revenue also came in above analysts’ projections. The profit was the first ever for the company, but the shares came under pressure after the company said it would need to offer more discounts to deal with growing competition.

Texas Roadhouse (TXRH): [EARNINGS] Beat estimates by 6 cents a share, with quarterly profit of 52 cents per share. The restaurant chain’s revenue topped estimates, as well. The company said it is not seeing much customer resistance to higher prices, and is expecting positive comparable restaurant sales for 2019.

Merck (MRK): [EARNINGS] Earned an adjusted $1.51 per share for the third quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.24 a share. Revenue came in above forecasts, as well. Merck also raised its full-year outlook amid strong sales of drugs like cancer treatment Keytruda.

Pfizer (PFE): [EARNINGS] Beat consensus estimates by 13 cents a share, with quarterly profit of 75 cents per share. Revenue was above analysts’ projections, as well. As rival Merck did, Pfizer raised its full-year forecast on strong sales of key treatments.

AutoNation (AN): [EARNINGS] Reported quarterly profit of $1.07 per share, 2 cents a share above estimates. Revenue also beat Street forecasts, helped by upbeat results for financial services among other factors.

Xerox (XRX): [EARNINGS] Earned an adjusted $1.08 per share for its latest quarter, beating the 86 cents a share consensus estimate. Revenue was slightly above Street forecasts and Xerox raised its full-year guidance. The company said it had decided not to sell its consumer finance business.

Alphabet (GOOGL): [EARNINGS] Reported quarterly earnings of $10.12 per share, below the consensus estimate of $12.42 a share. The Google parent’s revenue was slightly above Street forecasts. The bottom-line miss comes as the company reports record quarterly expenses as it invests in areas like cloud computing.

Corning (GLW): [EARNINGS] Beat estimates by 4 cents a share, with quarterly profit of 44 cents per share. Revenue also came in above expectations, helped in part by a strong pricing environment for its display technologies business.

ConocoPhillips (COP): [EARNINGS] Beat estimates by 7 cents a share, with quarterly profit of 82 cents per share. Revenue also came in above estimates as well and the company said it would unveil a 10-year capital plan at its analyst meeting in November.

T-Mobile US (TMUS): [EARNINGS] Beat estimates by 5 cents a share, with quarterly earnings of $1.01 per share. The mobile service provider’s revenue came in below forecasts. The bottom line results were helped by better-than-expected new subscriber additions.

Boeing (BA): [NEWS] Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg will testify today before a Senate panel on the two 737 Max crashes that killed 346 people. In written testimony released ahead of his appearance, Muilenburg acknowledges that the jet maker made mistakes and will take steps to insure that such accidents never occur again.

Marathon Petroleum (MPC): [NEWS] Is set to spin off its chain of gasoline stations, and is also mulling a shake-up of its executive leadership, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke to The Wall Street Journal. 

MOMENTUM STOCKS
GAINERS: ON, ROKU, AMAG, HRTX, LRCX, RS, AMAT
DECLINERS: CWEN, PLD

TODAY'S IPOs
Merida Merger (MCMJU) (Price: 10) (Est. Vol: $100.0M)

WE WILL SHOW YOU THE WAY!