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

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

*

PepsiCo ( PEP ) down after forecasting annual profit below

estimates

*

Merck ( MRK ) falls on dour 2025 forecast

*

Futures: Dow down 0.21%, S&P 500 down 0.05%, Nasdaq up

0.1%

(Updates with results from PepsiCo ( PEP ), Merck ( MRK ), Pfizer ( PFE ))

By Shashwat Chauhan and Sukriti Gupta

Feb 4 (Reuters) -

U.S. stock index futures were subdued on Tuesday as

investors avoided risky assets after China struck back with

retaliatory tariffs in response to new U.S. restrictions against

Chinese goods.

Minutes after U.S. President Donald Trump's 10% tariff on

Chinese goods kicked in at 12:01 a.m. ET (0501 GMT), China's

finance ministry announced levies on some U.S. imports.

Beijing's limited reply to Trump's imposition of a 10%

tariff on all imports from China underscored its attempts to

engage the U.S. president in talks and avert an outright trade

war between the world's two largest economies.

Trump had also imposed a 25% tariff on goods from Mexico and

Canada over the weekend, but agreed to a 30-day pause in the

levies on Monday, in return for border and crime concessions

from both countries.

The last-minute change helped the three major U.S. stock

indexes pare some of the heavy losses suffered earlier on Monday

and closed trading well off session lows.

"The events of the last few days have once again shown that

anything can be expected of Trump," Commerzbank economists said

in a note. "There is still a high risk that significant tariffs

and disruptions in international trade will ultimately occur."

The S&P 500 came as close as eight points to all-time

highs on Friday before selling off, as the tariffs rattled

global markets.

Three Fed officials warned on Monday that trade tariffs

carried inflation risks, with one arguing that uncertainty over

the outlook for prices called for slower interest-rate cuts than

otherwise.

Traders are pricing in no interest-rate action from the U.S.

Federal Reserve before June, with bets on a cut in June at 62%,

according to CME's FedWatch.

Comments from three Fed leaders including Atlanta's Raphael

Bostic are expected through the day.

In economic data, a December job openings reading is due at

10:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday, with the all-important January nonfarm

payrolls report slated for Friday.

At 07:24 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 93

points, or 0.21%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 3.25 points,

or 0.05%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 20.5 points, or

0.1%.

Google-parent Alphabet, gaming firm Electronic

Arts ( EA ) and chipmaker AMD are scheduled to report

quarterly earnings after markets close on Tuesday.

Among premarket movers, biotechnology firm Illumina ( ILMN )

dropped 4.7%, while PVH Corp ( PVH ), the holding company for

brands including Calvin Klein, fell 5.2% after China placed the

firms in its "unreliable entity list".

PepsiCo ( PEP ) fell 2.3% after it forecast annual profit

below expectations and missed quarterly revenue estimates, as

the Frito-Lay maker faces weakening demand for its sodas and

snacks in the United States, its largest market.

Spotify ( SPOT ) gained 8.7% after it forecast

first-quarter profit above market expectations, while Palantir ( PLTR )

jumped 21.8% after the data analytics company forecast

first-quarter and annual revenue above Wall Street estimates.

Merck ( MRK ) fell 8.1% after the drugmaker said it would

pause shipments of Gardasil to China through at least mid-year,

as continued weak demand for the HPV vaccine there is expected

to hurt the company's 2025 revenue.

Pfizer ( PFE ) rose 1.8% after it beat estimates for

fourth-quarter profit, helped by

strong sales

of its heart-disease drug and a smaller-than-feared drop in

COVID-19 vaccine sales.