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Futures up: Dow 0.02%, S&P 500 0.22%, Nasdaq 0.32%

Sept 16 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures inched

higher on Tuesday after the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed at

record highs in the previous session, as investors remained

expectant about interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve

later this week.

Investors largely priced in a 25 basis point cut from the

U.S. central bank at the conclusion of its two-day meeting on

Wednesday, in an attempt to offset the deterioration in the U.S.

labor market, evidenced by numerous recent economic indicators.

Rate cut expectations remained unchanged after the U.S.

Senate confirmed economic adviser Stephen Miran to the Fed Board

and an appeals court rejected President Donald Trump's bid to

fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook.

Market participants are still pricing in a total of about 68

basis points in monetary policy easing by end-2025, data

compiled by LSEG showed.

An August reading of retail sales is among the last datasets

ahead of the Fed's decision, due at 8:30 a.m. ET, that could

provide some more insights on U.S. consumer health.

In stocks, Oracle gained 3.8% in premarket trading.

CBS News reported on Monday that the cloud computing giant is

among a consortium of firms that would enable TikTok to continue

operations in the U.S. if a Sino-U.S. framework deal was

reached.

At 5:26 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 10 points, or

0.02%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 14.25 points, or 0.22%

and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 77.75 points, or 0.32%.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed at record highs on Monday,

helped by robust gains in Tesla and Alphabet,

with the latter zooming past $3 trillion in market valuation for

the first time.

Wall Street's main indexes have gained so far in September,

a month that is deemed bad for U.S. equities historically. Data

compiled by LSEG showed that the benchmark S&P 500 has lost 1.5%

on average in September since 2000.

Among other stocks, Dave & Buster's Entertainment

plunged 17.7% after the entertainment and dining venues operator

missed analysts' expectations for second-quarter revenue and

profit.

Chipotle Mexican Grill ( CMG ) gained 1.9% after raising its

share buyback authorization.

(Reporting by Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru)