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Eli Lilly ( LLY ) up as Alzheimer's drug gets US FDA panel backing

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Crypto stocks fall as bitcoin hits one-week low

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GM approves $6 billion share buyback plan

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Futures lower: Dow 0.31%, S&P 0.22%, Nasdaq 0.23%

(Updated at 8:16 a.m. ET/1216 GMT)

By Lisa Pauline Mattackal and Johann M Cherian

June 11 (Reuters) -

Wall Street was set to open lower on Tuesday, with futures

tracking all three major indexes in the red as investors were

cautious ahead of crucial inflation data and a policy

announcement from the Federal Reserve expected this week.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq posted record

closing highs on Monday in a choppy session, boosted by shares

of Nvidia ( NVDA ) after its 10-for-one stock split.

Markets are readying for Wednesday's release of the Consumer

Price Index report for May and the conclusion of the Fed's

two-day policy meeting.

"There's an abnormal amount of anxiety around these

numbers and around the Fed meeting, particularly after the jobs

report on Friday," said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill

Capital LLC.

The central bank is not expected to change rates but will

release its updated economic projections and "dot plot", which

shows where policymakers expect interest rates to stand over the

next few years and longer term.

The CPI numbers and the Fed's projections will be closely

scrutinized as recent reports have given conflicting signals on

the economy's underlying health.

"If they (Fed policymakers) take down growth a bit, then

they will have cover to keep two dots on the dot plot, which

would be very bullish for markets. So this trepidation you're

seeing is a fear of what if that doesn't happen," Hayes said.

Markets are pricing in a nearly 53% chance of the Fed's

first rate cut happening in September, according to the CME's

FedWatch tool. Rate futures also imply just one cut this year,

compared to two before Friday's bumper Nonfarm Payrolls data.

Meanwhile, Nvidia ( NVDA ) ticked 0.3% lower in premarket trading,

while shares of Apple ( AAPL ) lost 0.2% after investors were

unimpressed by the long-awaited AI strategy presented at its

developer conference on Monday.

Other rate-sensitive megacap stocks slipped, with Microsoft ( MSFT )

, Meta Platforms ( META ) and Amazon.com ( AMZN )

falling between 0.2% and 0.3%.

On the day, a National Federation of Independent Business

survey showed small-business confidence and hiring plans

increased to their highest levels of the year in May, but the

upcoming U.S. presidential election drove the Uncertainty Index

to a nearly four-year high.

At

8:16

a.m. ET, Dow e-minis

were down 121 points, or 0.31%

, S&P 500 e-minis

were down 12 points, or 0.22%

, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis

were down 44 points, or 0.23%

.

Shares of prison operator CoreCivic ( CXW ) and Target

Hospitality ( TH ) slumped 34.3% and 18.2%, respectively, after

the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said it would close

a Texas detention center.

Cryptocurrency-linked stocks slipped as bitcoin slid

3.7%, with bitcoin miners Riot Platforms ( RIOT ) and Marathon

Digital ( MARA ) and crypto exchange Coinbase falling

between 2.5% and 3.5%.

General Motors ( GM ) gained

1.3

% after the automaker announced a $6 billion

share buyback

plan.

Eli Lilly's ( LLY ) shares rose 2.1% after its Alzheimer's

drug donanemab received unanimous backing from a U.S. FDA panel.

Sage Therapeutics ( SAGE ) jumped

2.4

% after its

experimental drug met the main goal

of a mid-stage study in patients with Huntington's disease.

Cleveland-Cliffs ( CLF ) dropped 3.0% after brokerage

J.P.Morgan downgraded the steel stock to "neutral" from

"overweight".