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

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

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Aug JOLTS report, Sept. ISM survey due at 10 a.m. ET

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Boeing ( BA ) slips after report of weighing capital raise

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Port strike halts half of ocean shipping, retailers

unchanged

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Futures: Dow off 0.29%, S&P 500 off 0.10%, Nasdaq up 0.01%

(Updated at 8:36 a.m. ET/ 1236 GMT)

By Johann M Cherian and Purvi Agarwal

Oct 1 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were set

for a flat to lower open on Tuesday ahead of the first of

multiple job reports this week, a day after Federal Reserve

Chair Jerome Powell pushed back against market expectations for

outsized interest rate cuts.

Powell at a conference on Monday reiterated that the central

bank is likely to reduce borrowing costs by an additional 50

basis points by year-end, based on data that pointed to robust

consumer spending and gross domestic income.

Traders, who were divided over the size of the Fed's

upcoming interest rate cuts, are now pricing in a 60.3%

probability of a 25 bps reduction at the November meeting,

compared with 41.8% a week ago, as per the CME Group's FedWatch

Tool.

With inflation nearing the central bank's 2% target, the Fed

is squarely focused on the labor market after kicking off its

monetary policy easing cycle in September.

August's job openings and labor turnover survey (JOLTS) and

the Institute for Supply Management's estimate for manufacturing

activity in September are both due at 10 a.m. ET.

"The path of the Fed is assumed to be cutting rates

successively and that seems to be driving force behind markets.

So at least until we get into the teeth of earnings the labor

market data is extraordinarily important," said Keith Buchanan,

senior portfolio manager at GLOBALT Investments.

"There is increased easing of the labor market in a

gradual pace, but it is not necessarily going to thrust us into

a recession in the near term."

Dow E-minis were down 123 points, or 0.29%, S&P

500 E-minis were down 5.75 points, or 0.1% and Nasdaq

100 E-minis were up 1.25 points, or 0.01%.

Investors will also parse comments from Fed presidents

Raphael Bostic, Thomas Barkin and Susan Collins, alongside

Governor Lisa Cook, for their insights on the economy and the

monetary policy outlook through the day.

Wall Street's three main indexes closed September higher,

bucking a historical trend where equities' performance have been

weak on average during the month. The benchmark S&P 500

and blue-chip Dow notched their fifth straight month in

gains and closed near record highs in the previous session.

Markets also monitored a port strike on the East Coast and

the Gulf Coast halting the flow of about half the nation's ocean

shipping.

Retailers account for half of all container shipping volumes

and shares of Designer Brands ( DBI ), Costco, Walmart ( WMT )

were little changed in premarket trading.

Boeing ( BA ) dipped 1.2% after a report said the

planemaker is considering

raising at least $10 billion

by selling new stock.

CVS Health ( CVS ) added 1.9% after a report showed the

healthcare firm is exploring options that could include a

break-up of the company to separate its retail and insurance

units.

McCormick ( MKC ) was up 1.5% after the hot sauce maker

raised annual forecasts and beat third-quarter estimates.

Tesla was up 0.4% ahead of reporting third-quarter

deliveries on Wednesday, with analysts expecting an 8% jump from

a year ago.

Ford gained 2.1% after a report showed Goldman Sachs

upgraded the automaker's stock to "buy" from "neutral".