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Futures up: Dow 0.35%, S&P 500 0.30%, Nasdaq 0.39%

Nov 29 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose ahead

of a truncated trading session on Friday, with Wall Street's

main indexes on track for monthly gains as the holiday shopping

season kicked off on a brisk note and investor attention shifted

to retail stocks.

Wall Street's main indexes closed lower on Wednesday, the

eve of the Thanksgiving Holiday, after data showed signs of

sticky inflation, bolstering bets the Federal Reserve could stay

cautious on interest-rate cuts in 2025.

Investors will closely monitor stocks of retailers expected

to attract millions of shoppers with their steep Black Friday

discounts, as customers commence their year-end holiday

shopping.

The National Retail Federation, a U.S. trade group, expects

roughly 85.6 million shoppers to visit stores this year, up from

76 million on Black Friday in 2023.

Shares of Target ( TGT ) rose 0.8%, TJX climbed

0.6%, Walmart ( WMT ) edged up 0.5% and Nike ( NKE ) added 0.4%

in premarket trading.

"This mega promotional event is a mixed blessing for

retailers. It provokes such shopping mania in the quest for a

good deal that around three quarters of people will actually put

off spending in the run-up to the event," said Susannah

Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown.

"During the promotional period, it also means selling at a

discount... (which) means a smaller profit margin at a time when

they are being squeezed by rising staff costs."

At 05:35 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 159 points,

or 0.35%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 17.75 points, or

0.30%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 79.5 points, or

0.39%.

Futures tracking the small-cap Russell 2000 index

rose 0.9%.

The main indexes were on track for monthly gains, with the

benchmark S&P set for its biggest one-month rise since

February. An index tracking small-cap companies hit a

record high earlier in the week and was poised for its steepest

monthly rise in nearly a year.

President-elect Donald Trump's victory in U.S. presidential

elections earlier this month, along with his Republican Party

controlling both houses of Congress, provided the latest boost

for equities.

Investors were pricing in expectations Trump's policies on

tax cuts, tariffs and deregulation could spur economic growth

and corporate performance. However, concerns that his proposals

could stoke upside price pressures, slow the pace of the Fed's

monetary policy easing and weigh on global growth prevail.

Traders expect the central bank to lower borrowing costs by

25 basis points at its December meeting, but see the Fed pausing

rate cuts in January and March, according to the CME Group's

FedWatch.

Speaking about Trump's plan to impose tariffs on the

country's top trade partners, President Joe Biden said he hopes

the president-elect will rethink his plan, saying it could

"screw up" the United States' relationships with close allies.

Crypto stocks were up as Bitcoin, the world's most

valuable cryptocurrency, climbed 1.5%, trading at about $96,000.

MicroStrategy O> rose 4%, MARA Holdings ( MARA ) added

2.6%, and Bit Digital advanced 2.9%.

Analysts expect stock moves to be influenced by thin volumes

after the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.