Investing.com -- U.S. stocks are falling to close the month of October on a down note, with the major indexes on pace to notch monthly declines.
The main indices on Wall Street all closed over 1% higher on Monday, with the blue chip Dow gaining over 500 points, or 1.6%, in its best trading day since early June. However, despite these gains, the major averages are on course to post their third straight month in the red, with both the S&P and the Nasdaq on course for their worst October since 2018.The U.S. central bank starts its latest two-day policy meeting later in the session, and investors widely expect the Fed will hold rates steady when it announces its decision on Wednesday.
The market slumped nearly 3% on Monday despite Israel stepping up its ground assault on Gaza, as traders chose to bank recent profits ahead of a string of key economic events this week, most notably Wednesday’s Fed rates decision. Events in the Middle East remain in focus, with traders wary of the conflict between Israel and Hamas expanding into a wider regional war in this oil-rich region.We encourage you to use comments to engage with other users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind: Include punctuation and upper and lower cases.