Stocks Down Pre-Bell Ahead of Key Inflation Report, Amazon Earnings

07:47 AM EDT, 10/29/2026 (MT Newswires) -- US equity futures were tracking in the red on Thursday as traders await a key inflation report and the latest financial results of e-commerce giant Amazon.com (AMZN). The S&P 500 decreased 0.3% and the Nasdaq 100 declined 1.1% in premarket activity, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.2%. Wall Street finished Wednesday trading higher, with the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 extending their winning streak to a third consecutive session. The personal income and outlays report for September is scheduled to be released at 8:30 am ET. The report includes the personal consumption expenditure price index, the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation metric, as well as data on consumer spending. Data are expected to show that PCE increased 0.5% sequentially and 3.6% annually last month, according to a Bloomberg-compiled consensus. Treasury yields were down early Thursday, with the two-year rate retreating 5.4 basis points to 4.68% and the 10-year rate off 5 basis points to nearly 5%. The Fed held its policy rate steady on Wednesday in a divided decision as the central bank preferred to wait for fresh data on inflation before deciding its next move. Chair Kevin Warsh also announced a reduction in the number of rate-setting meetings from the current eight annually to devote more time to discussions on monetary policy strategy. "While the recent acceleration in inflation should be more than enough to justify firmer policy near term, the majority of Fed officials seemingly support a more patient approach to any further rate adjustments," Stifel Economics Chief Economist Lindsey Piegza said in a note emailed to MT Newswires on Wednesday. Fed Governor Lisa Cook and Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack dissented with the majority, preferring a 25-basis-point rate hike, the Federal Open Market Committee said in its statement. Amazon is expected to release its latest financial results after the markets close. The consensus on FactSet is for the company to post per-share earnings of $1.97 and revenue of $202.22 billion for the September quarter. Shares of Microsoft (MSFT) rose 3% pre-bell after the company reported stronger-than-expected fiscal first-quarter results. Alphabet's (GOOG, GOOGL) class A and C shares dropped 9.8% and 10%, respectively, as the Google parent posted an unexpected year-over-year decrease in its third-quarter earnings. Eli Lilly (LLY), Mastercard (MA), Merck (MRK), Caterpillar (CAT), Anheuser-Busch Inbev (BUD), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY), L3Harris Technologies (LHX), D.R. Horton (DHI), Restaurant Brands International (QSR) and Hershey (HSY) post their earnings before the bell, among others. Intel (INTC), Sandisk (SNDK), Starbucks (SBUX), Stryker (SYK), Roblox (RBLX) and Reddit (RDDT) are due to announce their results after the markets close. West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell 1.3% to $101.42 a barrel, while Brent ticked down 1% to $114.19 a barrel. Vice President JD Vance has reportedly sent a letter to the secretary of Iran's supreme national security council, Mohsen Rezaei, at the direction of President Donald Trump, to resume peace negotiations, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing US officials and people familiar with the matter. Qatar has also presented Iran a new proposal to end the Middle East war, but a senior Iranian official rejected the offer as unacceptable, Reuters reported. Thursday's economic calendar also has the advance estimate for the third-quarter gross domestic product, along with the weekly jobless claims bulletin. Spot gold dipped 0.2% to $4,042 per troy ounce, while bitcoin declined 1.6% to $80,006.