By Purvi Agarwal and Shashwat Chauhan
(Reuters) -Wall Street's main indexes were set for a subdued open on Monday, after the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq notched record closing highs in the previous session on upbeat corporate forecasts, while investors awaited a key inflation report this week.
The consumer prices index (CPI) data due on Wednesday is among the last major datasets ahead of the Federal Reserve's Dec. 17-18 meeting and could influence the central bank's monetary policy path.
"The thing to watch will be any hint or evidence that core CPI might moderate into 2025 because the Fed will have a hard time continuing to cut at the pace they're on now," said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird.
Bets of a 25-basis-point rate cut at the upcoming meeting shot up to more than 89% after data on Friday showed a rise in the unemployment rate to 4.2% in November, pointing to an easing labor market.
Citigroup (NYSE:C) revised its December rate-cut call to 25-bps versus its prior forecast of 50 bps, while Jefferies stuck to its 25-bps forecast.
A host of Fed officials including Chair Jerome Powell last week said that the central bank could afford to be more cautious with its monetary policy easing path, given the resilience of the economy.
At 08:26 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 21 points, or 0.05%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 3.25 points, or 0.05%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 34.25 points, or 0.16%.
Wall Street's main indexes kicked off December on a broadly positive note, with the benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq logging gains in their first week, while the blue-chip Dow ended the week marginally lower.
U.S. equities surged in November as Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election and his party sweeping both houses of Congress raised expectations of a friendlier policy stance towards companies.
Mayfield dismissed concerns over the sustainability of the rally in U.S. equities and said he sees the bull market continuing in 2025, "driven primarily by growth in earnings and profit growth at U.S. companies".
Global markets were also keeping an eye on political developments in Syria, France and South Korea.
Among notable premarket movers, Workday and Apollo Global Management (NYSE:APO) jumped 8.9% and 5.7%, respectively, on their planned inclusion into the S&P 500 index.
Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) was last down 2.4% after China's market regulator said it had opened an investigation into the company over suspected violation of the country's antimonopoly law.
Interpublic Group advanced 14.8% after a report said marketing conglomerate Omnicom was in advanced talks to acquire the advertising company. Omnicom shares were down 2.3%.
U.S.-listed shares of Chinese companies gained after the Chinese Politburo hinted at a shift to looser monetary policy next year and more proactive fiscal policy to spur economic growth. Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) was up 6%, PDD Holdings (NASDAQ:PDD) climbed 7% and Baidu (NASDAQ:BIDU) added 5.6%.