Stocks Down Pre-Bell as Traders Await Fed Meeting Minutes

06:46 AM EDT, 10/05/2026 (MT Newswires) -- The benchmark US stock measures were pointing lower before the opening bell Monday as traders await minutes from the Federal Reserve's last policy meeting due later in the week. The SP 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq 100 fell 0.2% each in premarket activity. The Nasdaq finished Friday trading with weekly gains, while the Dow and SP 500 recorded weekly losses. The Fed is scheduled to post minutes from its September policy meeting Wednesday, which will be assessed for fresh insight on the central bank's monetary policy. At that meeting, the central bank raised interest rates by 25 basis points, its first hike in just over three years, to combat inflation running persistently above its 2% target. Treasury yields trended downwards early Monday, with the two-year rate retreating 1.9 basis points to 4.81% and the 10-year rate off 1.3 basis points to 5.26%. Last week, official data showed the US economy added fewer jobs than expected last month, likely giving the Fed some breathing room to hold interest rates steady later in October. "While a still positive pace of job creation coupled with an upward revision to (second-quarter) growth signals an ongoing solid underlying economy, from a policy standpoint, a weaker-than-expected payroll report reinforces the Fed's more cautious approach to rate hikes," Stifel Economics said in remarks emailed to MT Newswires on Friday. Markets are currently pricing in an 80% probability that the Fed will keep its benchmark rate steady this month, with the remaining odds in favor of a 25-basis-point hike, according to the CME FedWatch tool. Monday's economic calendar has the purchasing managers' index composite final report from SP Global (SPGI) for September at 9:45 am ET, followed by the Institute for Supply Management's services index for the same month at 10 am. West Texas Intermediate crude oil dipped 0.5% to $90.64 a barrel, while Brent inched lower at $102.25. Sources told Bloomberg News on Monday that oil flows in Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline were operating normally, following media reports that it had suffered a new attack. The Group of Seven countries on Friday outlined plans to release 100 million barrels of oil and diesel products over a four-month period, citing "unprecedented" market volatility amid disruptions caused by the US-Iran war. Over the weekend, seven members of OPEC+ agreed to keep November oil output targets unchanged at September levels. Shares of PTC (PTC) surged 35% pre-bell after the engineering software provider agreed to be acquired by French conglomerate Schneider Electric in an all-cash deal valued at about $23.7 billion. Vistra (VST) gained 6.3% following a Bloomberg News report on Friday that the company may receive a $4 billion loan package from the Trump administration to upgrade three of its nuclear plants. PepsiCo (PEP), Delta Air Lines (DAL), Constellation Brands (STZ), RPM International (RPM) and Levi Strauss (LEVI) are all scheduled to release their latest financial results later this week. Spot gold inclined 0.8% to $4,196 per troy ounce, while bitcoin rose 0.9% to $86,194.