(Reuters) -U.S. stock index futures hovered near record highs on Tuesday, pausing after a rally in the previous session as investors focused on major corporate earnings and a much-anticipated Federal Reserve policy decision expected later in the week.

Market participants are entering one of the busiest weeks of the third-quarter earnings season, with at least 172 of the S&P 500 companies scheduled to release results.

Popular names such as UnitedHealth, UPS, Royal Caribbean, D.R. Horton ( DHI ), JetBlue and PayPal ( PYPL ), among others, are expected to report before the bell.

The spotlight will be on megacaps later in the week, when Microsoft, Alphabet, Apple, Amazon and Meta are expected to report earnings. 

Artificial intelligence has been the bulwark of the bull-market rally on Wall Street that marked its three-year anniversary this month and traders will scrutinize how companies are monetizing the technology as spending continues to grow.

Fed officials will meet later in the day to discuss interest rates and plans to end the central bank's "quantitative tightening" policy, which Chair Jerome Powell hinted at earlier. The central bank is due to announce its verdict on Wednesday.

The U.S. government has been shut down for nearly a month, delaying crucial economic data and forcing traders to rely on private releases and corporate announcements.

Amazon and Paramount were the latest companies to announce layoffs, according to different sources. Separately, the Conference Board's consumer confidence report, along with surveys by the Richmond and Texas Federal Reserves, are expected to be released on Tuesday.

Most major brokerages now expect the U.S. central bank to lower borrowing costs by 50 basis points by the year-end.

At 5:44 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis fell 10 points, or 0.02%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 3 points, or 0.04%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis rose 6.75 points, or 0.03%.

Among top movers, semiconductor licenser Rambus slid 15% after missing quarterly profit expectations.

NextEra Energy gained 2.6% after the energy company reached a nuclear energy deal with Google.

Qorvo jumped 10.2% after a report said rival Skyworks Solutions had held talks in recent months to buy the smartphone chipmaker.

Investors are optimistic that U.S. President Donald Trump will strike a long-awaited trade deal with China during his Asia tour.

Trump has just signed a deal with Japan to mine and process critical minerals and rare earths. U.S.-listed shares of rare earth miners such as Trilogy Metals and NioCorp Developments slipped 1% and 2.6%, respectively, and looked set to extend Monday's declines after a U.S.-China truce pausing tariffs and export curbs on the minerals. 

Optimism around trade deals weighed on safe-havens such as gold and silver that have rallied recently. The declines pressured U.S.-listed shares of precious metal miners such as Gold Fields and Harmony Gold, which lost more than 4% each.