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

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

*

Producer prices, retail sales and labor data on tap

*

Citigroup rises on GS upgrade

*

Tesla slips after UBS cuts price target

*

Futures up: Dow 0.30%, S&P 0.32%, Nasdaq 0.43%

(Updated at 7:00 a.m. ET/ 1100 GMT)

By Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Shashwat Chauhan

March 14 (Reuters) -

Futures tracking Wall Street's main stock indexes advanced

on Thursday as investors awaited a raft of economic data,

including the producer prices numbers, ahead of the Federal

Reserve's meeting next week.

All eyes are on the February producer prices data, due at

8:30 a.m. ET, which will provide insights into the inflation

picture, and the retail sales figures that could offer

additional clues about consumer spending patterns.

Also on tap is the weekly jobless claims data at the same

time, a marker of the labor market's strength.

Tuesday's marginally hotter-than-expected consumer price

data failed to dampen hopes for rate cuts by the Fed in the

coming months, with traders seeing a 69% chance that the first

rate cut will come in June, according to the CME's FedWatch

Tool.

"Action Economics reminds us that inflation is coming down,

but very slowly, which will likely keep the FOMC (Federal Open

Market Committee) awaiting further reports to confirm that

prices are cooling," said Sam Stovall, chief investment

strategist at CFRA, in a note.

The raft of economic data comes ahead of the Fed's policy

meeting next week, where the focus will be on possible cues on

how soon the central bank could kick off the rate-easing cycle.

"With no rate cut expected, the focus will be squarely on

dot plots and potential shifts," Stovall said.

At 7:00 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 116 points,

or 0.30%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 16.5 points, or 0.32%,

and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 79 points, or 0.43%.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq and the S&P 500 closed

lower on Wednesday, as investors booked profits from high-flying

chip stocks ahead of the key data.

Chipmakers such as Micron Technology ( MU ) and Intel ( INTC )

recovered 0.5% and 0.8%, respectively, in premarket

trading after falling more than 3% each in the previous session.

Most megacap growth and technology stocks inched higher, but

artificial intelligence (AI) giant Nvidia ( NVDA ) slipped 0.8%,

while Tesla shed 1.4% after UBS trimmed its price

target on the stock.

Shares of Robinhood Markets ( HOOD ) jumped 11.5% after the

trading app operator said its assets under custody rose 16% in

February.

Citigroup added 1.6% after Goldman Sachs raised the

lender's rating to "buy" from "neutral".

SentinelOne ( S ) dropped 11.4% after the cybersecurity firm

forecast FY25 revenue below analysts' expectations.

Aerospace and defense company RTX gained 2.0%

after Wells Fargo upgraded its rating to "overweight" from

"equal weight".

Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs Asset Management's real estate head

said the firm would resume "actively investing" in U.S.

commercial property this year because the market was bottoming

out.

Investors are looking ahead to the global GTC developer

conference from March 18 to 21 for AI-related announcements.