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Futures: Dow down 0.02%, S&P 500 down 0.04%, Nasdaq up

0.03%

Oct 28 (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 ( UNH ), UPS,

Royal Caribbean, D.R. Horton ( DHI ), JetBlue ( JBLU )

and PayPal ( PYPL ), among others, are expected to report before

the bell.

The spotlight will be on megacaps later in the week, when

Microsoft ( MSFT ), Alphabet, Apple ( AAPL ), Amazon ( AMZN )

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 ( AMZN ) 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 ( RMBS )

slid 15% after missing quarterly profit expectations.

NextEra Energy ( NEE/PU ) gained 2.6% after the energy company

reached a nuclear energy deal with Google.

Qorvo ( QRVO ) jumped 10.2% after a report said rival

Skyworks Solutions ( SWKS ) 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 ( NB ) 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.