(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock

markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.)

*

Futures: Dow up 0.02%, S&P 500 down 0.04%, Nasdaq down

0.03%

July 8 (Reuters) -

U.S. stock index futures were little changed on Monday, as

investors prepared for a busy week that will see the release of

a key inflation report, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's

testimony and the start of the second-quarter earnings season.

Expectations for interest rate cuts as early as

September received a further boost after Friday's

nonfarm payrolls

report showed U.S. job growth slowed in June, the latest

data to point to labor market weakness.

Investors, however, are focused on every potential clue

to get a clearer picture of the Fed's monetary policy for the

year.

Traders now see a 70% chance of a 25 basis point cut at the

Fed's September meeting, up from 60% a week ago, while expecting

an overall cut of about 50 bps for the year, according to CME

FedWatch data.

On the data front, Thursday's release of June's consumer

price index data will be closely watched for more indications on

whether price pressures are easing.

On a monthly basis, U.S. headline inflation is expected to

rise slightly by 0.1% from a flat reading the month prior, while

core inflation is expected to rise 0.2%.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq continued to rally

on Friday, closing at all-time highs as megacap tech stocks such

as Meta Platforms ( META ) and Microsoft ( MSFT ) touched record

highs.

The Windows software maker, Apple ( AAPL ) and Alphabet

rose between 0.2% and 0.4% in premarket trading, while

Nvidia ( NVDA ) slipped 0.5%.

Major banks including Citigroup ( C/PN ), JPMorgan Chase ( JPM )

and Wells Fargo ( WFC ) kick off the second-quarter

corporate earnings season on July 12.

Shares of JPMorgan ( JPM ) slipped 0.4% premarket after broad losses

saw the S&P 500 banks index end Friday's session down

1.6%.

Investors are focusing on the earnings season to see if a

stratospheric jump in shares of just a handful of megacap

stocks, such as Nvidia ( NVDA ), can justify their pricey

valuations.

Markets will also closely watch Powell's semi-annual

testimony before both the Senate Banking Committee and the House

Financial Services Committee on July 9 and 10, respectively, as

well as comments from several other Fed officials throughout the

week.

Producer price index data for June and the University of

Michigan's consumer survey data is also scheduled for release on

Friday.

At 5:57 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 9 points, or

0.02%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 2.25 points, or 0.04%,

and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 6.75 points, or 0.03%.

Paramount Global ( PARAA ) rose 3.9% after Sunday's

announcement that the company would merge with Skydance Media,

which has offered $4.5 billion in cash or stock and an extra

$1.5 billion to shore up Paramount's balance sheet.

Planemaker Boeing gained 0.6% after the company

agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge and

pay a fine of $243.6 million to resolve a U.S. Justice

Department investigation into two 737 MAX fatal crashes.