Stock futures inch lower Monday night as major averages pause their late-2023 rally: Live updates

Stock futures ticked down Tuesday morning after the major averages took a break from their latest hot streak.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 74 points, or 0.2%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures shed 0.3% and 0.4% respectively.

In after-hours action, shares of GitLab popped 16%. The open-source software development platform beat on top and bottom lines in the third quarter and issued strong guidance for the current quarter.

During regular trading on Monday, the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.8% as tech companies fell across the board. Nvidia and Intel declined 2.7% and 3.2%, respectively. Alphabet also shed nearly 2%, while Meta shares lost 1.5%. The pullback came on the back of five consecutive positive weeks for the three major averages. The S&P 500 and the 30-stock Dow slipped 0.5% and 0.1%, respectively.

Meanwhile, small-cap stocks outperformed the rest of the market, with the Russell 2000 posting a 1% gain. The small-cap index has enjoyed a nearly 7% gain over the past month, raising hopes of a broadening market rally, as traders become confident that the Federal Reserve will begin to cut rates next year in spite of recent hawkish commentary from the central bank. 

Nonetheless, investors should temper their expectations for equity gains heading into 2024, according to Jason Heller, senior executive vice president at Coastal Wealth. 

“We believe there are few upward catalysts for stocks given elevated interest rates, a weakening consumer and tempered earnings expectations,” said Heller. “We expect stocks to remain in a narrow trading range.”

While the Fed is currently in a “blackout period,” meaning there will be limited comments from the central bank’s officials, Wall Street has more to look toward on the economic front. Traders will be looking toward the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey report on Tuesday morning.