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Futures: Dow flat, S&P 500 down 0.26%, Nasdaq 0.37%

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Home Depot ( HD ) rises after Q1 sales beat

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Fed officials scheduled to speak through the day

(Updates with analyst comment, prices)

By Shashwat Chauhan and Kanchana Chakravarty

May 20 (Reuters) -

Futures tied to Wall Street's main indexes fell marginally

on Tuesday as investors awaited commentary from Federal Reserve

officials through the day to assess the impact of U.S. President

Donald Trump's tariff policies into the second half of 2025.

At least seven Fed officials including St. Louis Fed

President Alberto Musalem are expected to speak later in the

day.

Traders currently expect at least two 25-basis-point rate

cuts from the U.S. Federal Reserve by the end of the year, with

the first expected in September, according to data compiled by

LSEG.

Fed officials on Monday flagged the ramifications of the

latest downgrade of the U.S. government's sovereign credit

rating and uneasy market conditions.

At 06:54 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 2 points, or

flat, S&P 500 E-minis were down 15.5 points, or 0.26%,

and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 79.75 points, or 0.37%.

Among early premarket movers, retailer Home Depot ( HD )

gained 3% after beating Wall Street estimates for first quarter

sales.

Amer Sports ( AS ) jumped nearly 10% after raising its 2025

revenue forecast.

Most megacap and growth stocks were tracking lower, with

Nvidia ( NVDA ) and Amazon.com ( AMZN ) down about 0.3% each.

Stocks initially fell on Monday while government bond yields

jumped as investors assessed the implications of Moody's

downgrading the U.S. sovereign credit rating to "Aa1" from a

pristine "Aaa", citing the government's $36-trillion outstanding

debt and interest.

Treasury yields continued to decline, with those on the

10-year Treasury note last down 1.4 bps on Tuesday

to 4.46%.

"Yesterday's price action does not alter the bullish

hypothesis nor alter our thinking that many investors would

prefer to be long or flat into Nvidia ( NVDA ) earnings," J.P.Morgan

analysts said in a note.

"Any weakness from either a weaker flash PMI print or

consumer-sector earnings we think should be bought."

Nvidia ( NVDA ) is scheduled to report quarterly

earnings on May 28 and preliminary readings of the May

Purchasing Managers Index are due later in the week.

Concerns around mounting U.S. debt remained in focus, with a

vote on Trump's sweeping tax-cut bill in the House of

Representatives expected sometime this week.

U.S. stocks have had a solid month so far, with the S&P 500

now more than 17% higher than its April lows, when global

markets were jolted by Trump's reciprocal tariffs on most

trading partners.

A pause in the tariffs, a temporary trade truce between the

U.S. and China and some tame inflation data have pushed equities

higher, although the S&P 500 is still about 3% away from its

record highs.