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Tesla slips after its China-made EV sales drop in Nov

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October JOLTS data due at 10 a.m. ET

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Futures: Dow down 0.03%, S&P 500 up 0.03%, Nasdaq down

0.05%

(Updates with prices)

By Shashwat Chauhan and Purvi Agarwal

Dec 3 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were subdued

on Tuesday after the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq notched record high

levels in the last session, with investor focus on a crucial

jobs report later this week along with more data and commentary

from Federal Reserve officials.

October's job openings and labor turnover survey (JOLTS)

report is due at 10:00 a.m. ET, ahead of hotly anticipated

monthly payrolls figures on Friday, a crucial metric in gauging

the Fed's interest rate trajectory.

"The bumpy inflation trajectory since the end of the summer

caught the Fed's attention and led markets to aggressively

reprice the policy outlook for 2025," analysts at Societe

Generale wrote in a morning note.

"It is unclear if we have reached an equilibrium with a

terminal rate around 3.75%."

Traders currently see a more than 72% chance of the Fed

cutting interest rates by 25 basis points when it meets later

this month, as per CME's FedWatch Tool.

A November reading of private payrolls is also due on

Wednesday.

Fed Governor Christopher Waller, whose views are often a

bellwether for U.S. monetary policy, said on Monday that with

inflation still forecast to fall to 2% he is inclined "at

present" to support another interest rate cut later this month.

New York Fed President John Williams said late on Monday

that while it was clear interest rates are likely go down over

time, he could not yet say what the central bank's next move

will be.

On the docket for Tuesday, comments from Chicago Fed

President Austan Goolsbee and Fed Board Governor Adriana Kugler

would be parsed through.

The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 scored to record

closing highs in the last session, as the tech rally spilled

into December after U.S. equities' stellar November performance.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump recaptured the White

House in last month's election and his Republican Party swept

both houses of Congress, boosting stocks in November.

Analysts have cited Trump's potential plans for tax cuts and

deregulation as a positive for stocks, though tariffs could be a

negative on concerns of fresh inflationary pressures and a

global trade war.

At 7:00 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 14

points, or 0.03%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 2 points, or

0.03% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 9.75 points, or

0.05%.

Among early individual movers, Zscaler ( ZS ) fell 7.7% in

premarket trading after analysts noted that the cybersecurity

firm's second-quarter revenue forecast failed to impress.

Tesla slipped 1.2% after the automaker's sales of

China-made electric vehicles fell 4.3% year-on-year to 78,856 in

November, data from the China Passenger Car Association showed.

U.S. Steel shed 9.4% after Trump reiterated his

opposition to Nippon Steel's ( NISTF ) planned $15 billion the

purchase of the company.

Live Nation shares fell 7.1% after the concert

promoter launched an offering of $1 billion in convertible

senior notes.