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

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Producer prices increase more than expected in April

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Meme stocks extend gains from Monday

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Alibaba falls after Q4 profit drop

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Futures off: Dow 0.01%, S&P 0.08%, Nasdaq 0.23%

(Updated at 08:48 a.m. ET/ 1248 GMT)

By Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Shristi Achar A

May 14 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures turned

negative on Tuesday after stronger-than-expected producer prices

data dampened hopes of interest rate cuts this year, while

investors awaited a speech by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome

Powell.

The producer price index (PPI) for final demand edged up

0.5% last month, compared with a 0.3% increase expected by

economists polled by Reuters.

The PPI increased by 2.2% in the 12 months through April, as

expected, after adding 1.8% in the prior month.

"When you look at wholesale prices heating up again in

April, ahead of expectations by two basis points, you're in a

scenario where the Fed is just not ready to cut interest rates,"

said Phil Blancato, CEO of Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management.

Focus will now be on Wednesday's consumer price figures to

help assess whether the upside surprises in the first quarter

were a blip or a worrying trend.

Fed Chair Powell is due to speak at 10:00 a.m. ET and could

provide further clues on the central bank's monetary policy

trajectory.

Sticky inflation and persistent labor market strength have

prompted financial markets and most economists to push back

expectations for an initial Fed interest rate cut, with traders

now seeing a 48% chance that the central bank will ease rates by

25 basis points in September, according to LSEG data.

At the start of the year, markets were expecting a first

rate cut as early as March.

Still, stocks have rallied so far this year, with all three

major U.S. indexes hovering near fresh record highs, underpinned

by better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter and hopes

that the Fed will cut rates sometime this year.

At 08:48 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 5 points,

or 0.01%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 4 points, or 0.08%,

and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 41.5 points, or 0.23%.

U.S.-listed shares of Alibaba shed 4.3% in

premarket trading after reporting a 86% drop in fourth-quarter

profit.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden unveiled a bundle of

steep tariff increases on an array of Chinese imports including

electric vehicles, computer chips and medical products.

U.S.-listed shares of Chinese EV makers Li Auto and

Xpeng slid 3.0% and 0.7%, respectively.

GameStop ( GME ) jumped 118.2%, set to extend its rally

after flag bearer Roaring Kitty posted on X.com for the first

time in three years.

Other 2021 meme rally participants and highly shorted stocks

such as AMC Entertainment ( AMC ) and Koss Corp ( KOSS ) rose

106.7% and 32.7%, respectively.

On Holding climbed 12.4% after the footwear maker

posted a beat-and-raise quarter for sales on strong demand for

its running shoes.

(Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Shristi Achar A in

Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Devika Syamnath)