Stock futures are little changed to start a strong month and final session of the quarter: Live Update

US stock futures were flat to open the final trading session in September as the major averages extended their third consecutive week of gains.

Future The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded near the flatline. S&P 500 futures Added only 0.04% and Nasdaq 100 futures 0.08% inches up.

The 30-stock Dow rose 0.3% to a new all-time high on Friday and ended the week about 0.6% higher. The S&P 500 also gained about 0.6%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose about 1% for the week.

Wall Street is on track to end September on a positive note. For the month, the Dow and the broader market index are up 1.8% and 1.6%, respectively. The tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 2.3% in September. The market got off to a rough start in what was historically the weakest month for the stock market, but the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a super-sized half point in September.

The S&P 500 rose 5.1% in the quarter, extending its year-to-date gains to more than 20%. However, October also has a troubling history for the market, known as a period of extreme volatility with some of the more notable Wall Street drawdowns occurring this month.

As of late last week, the August personal consumption price index came in at just 2.2%, the lowest since February 2021, making investors more confident about further rate cuts from the Fed. Additionally, the number of initial jobless claims released last week was lower than expected, indicating strength in the labor market.

Scott Helfstein, head of investment strategy at Global X, said the upbeat economic data “reinforces core beliefs that prices are stabilizing, consumers are healthy enough, companies are ready to take advantage of low rates, and the economy is moving forward”. “Expect risk assets to advance against this backdrop, despite geopolitical noise.”

Markets will get a big test later in the week with the September jobs report on Friday. On the earnings side, Carnival will announce its quarterly results on Monday morning.