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Futures: Dow up 0.11%, S&P 500 down 0.01%, Nasdaq up 0.09%

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UPS climbs after forecasting Q4 revenue above expectations

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UnitedHealth ( UNH ) shares gain after company raises FY outlook

(Updates prices, adds analyst comment)

By Johann M Cherian and Twesha Dikshit

Oct 28 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures hovered near

record highs on Tuesday, taking a breather after rallying in the

past two sessions as investors focused on major corporate

earnings including UnitedHealth ( UNH ) and UPS.

Amazon ( AMZN ) announced it would reduce its corporate workforce by

14,000 jobs, while sources said Paramount will also

begin a round of job cuts.

One of the busiest weeks of the third-quarter earnings

season is underway and AI-related updates are under the scanner

to justify high valuations and hefty investments, especially

among the major tech companies.

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

Amazon ( AMZN ) and Meta will report later in the week.

In premarket trading, UnitedHealth ( UNH ) shares rose 2.7%

after the healthcare giant raised its annual profit forecast and

reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings. Peers Elevance

Health ( ELV ) and Centene ( CNC ) gained more than 1% each.

Global economy bellweather United Parcel Service ( UPS )

climbed 9.6% after forecasting fourth-quarter revenue above Wall

Street expectations. Rival Fedex ( FDX ) gained 2.3%.

Out of 143 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported last

week, around 87% have beaten analyst estimates.

Artificial intelligence has been a major driver of Wall

Street's bull-market rally that marked its three-year

anniversary this month.

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.

Markets are now pricing in expectations for the U.S. central

bank to lower borrowing costs by 50 basis points by the

year-end.

"The rates view is fully priced into the market, which

assigns a 100% probability of a cut this week," John Velis, BNY

Mellon's Americas Macro Strategist, said in a note.

"We expect very little, however, in the form of clear

forward guidance for the December meeting and into 2026, given

the continued lack of government data due to the shutdown, and

the unlikely prospect it will be resolved any time soon."

At 07:05 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 53 points, or

0.11%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 0.75 points, or 0.01%,

and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 13.75 points, or 0.05%.

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.

The Conference Board's consumer confidence report, along

with surveys by the Richmond and Texas Federal Reserves, are

expected to be released on Tuesday.

Among top movers, PayPal ( PYPL ) shares surged 12.7% after

the payments firm announced a partnership with OpenAI to allow

ChatGPT users to check out instantly.

Royal Caribbean Group slid 7.6% after a

disappointing fourth-quarter profit forecast.

D.R. Horton ( DHI ) posted a smaller profit for the quarter

sending shares down 3.4%.

NextEra Energy ( NEE/PU ) gained 2.1% after the energy company

reached a nuclear energy deal with Google.

Investors are optimistic that U.S. President Donald Trump

will strike a long-awaited trade deal with China during his Asia

tour. Trump signed a deal with Japan to mine and process

critical minerals and rare earths.

(Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Twesha Dikshit in Bengaluru;

Editing by Pooja Desai and Devika Syamnath)