By Shristi Achar A and Amruta Khandekar
(Reuters) -U.S. stock index futures slipped on Monday, ahead of a key inflation reading and commentary from Federal Reserve policymakers later in the week, while retailers were in focus as holiday shopping picked up steam with Cyber Monday deals.
Wall Street ended the Thanksgiving week on a positive note, with the major indexes notching up their fourth consecutive week of gains on growing optimism that the Federal Reserve was likely done hiking interest rates.
The rebound in equities in November has brought the S&P 500 within 1% of its highest intra-day level this year.
"Usually after Thanksgiving, you tend to get some profit taking because the volumes are low," said Axel Rudolph, senior market analyst at IG Group.
"But, until the end of the year we usually have, from a seasonality point of view, quite a bullish bias in equity market."
At 7:04 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 47 points, or 0.13%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 5.75 points, or 0.13%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 9 points, or 0.06%.
Traders have priced in the possibility of a pause in rate hikes in December, and see an about 53% chance of a rate cut of atleast 25-basis points in May 2024, according to the CME Group's FedWatch Tool.
A host of Fed officials are due to speak at different conferences this week, with Chair Jerome Powell expected to participate in a fireside chat on Friday.
Investors are also awaiting the release of "Beige Book", the Fed's compendium of reports about the economy and the personal consumption expenditure index data for October - the Fed's preferred inflation gauge - during the week.
Retailers were also on the radar after Black Friday and as Cyber Monday kicks off with shoppers expected to spend up to a record $12 billion.
Shares of Amazon.com and Walmart edged up 0.8% and 0.2%, respectively, before the bell.Weighing on sentiment, data showed profits at China's industrial firms grew at a slower pace, indicating the need for more policy support measures to help shore up growth in the world's second-largest economy.
Among other stocks, Crown Castle International added 4.4% as major shareholder Elliott Investment Management planned to speak with the wireless tower owner about ways to boost its share price, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
GE HealthCare lost 3.0% after UBS downgraded the medical devices maker to "sell" from "neutral."
(Reporting by Shristi Achar A and Amruta Khandekar in Bengaluru; additional reporting by Shashwat Chauhan; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
