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U.S. retail sales softer than expected

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Lennar ( LEN ) drops as home delivery forecast falls short of

estimates

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Citigroup hikes S&P 500 year-end target to 5,600 points

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Futures: Dow down 0.04%, S&P 500 down 0.01%, Nasdaq up

0.07%

(Updated at 8:49 a.m. ET/1249 GMT)

By Lisa Pauline Mattackal and Ankika Biswas

June 18 (Reuters) - Wall Street was set to open flat on

Tuesday following softer-than-expected U.S. retail sales data,

with focus on commentary from a slew of Federal Reserve

officials later in the day.

U.S. retail sales rose 0.1% last month, the Commerce

Department's Census Bureau said. Economists polled by Reuters

had forecast retail sales, which are mostly goods and are not

adjusted for inflation, gaining 0.3% in May.

Markets slightly increased bets on two interest rate cuts

from the Fed this year following the data, according to LSEG's

FedWatch.

"The weaker-than-expected data's telling me that consumers

are still having a difficult time and that the economy is still

moving forward, but at a slower pace," Robert Pavlik, senior

portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth Management, said.

"The Fed has to start thinking about cutting interest rates,

perhaps sooner than the end of the year."

Technology stocks were set to continue their strong run

after lifting the benchmark S&P 500 to its fifth record

high close in six sessions on Monday, and the Nasdaq to

its sixth consecutive record close.

The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index also hit a

record high on Monday.

Among chip stocks, Broadcom ( AVGO ) climbed 1.6% in

premarket trading after hitting a record high on Monday, while

Qualcomm ( QCOM ), U.S.-listed shares of Taiwan Semiconductor

Manufacturing Co and Micron were also up between

1.5% and 3.1% before the bell on Tuesday.

Nvidia ( NVDA ) rose 0.4%, while other megacaps Apple ( AAPL )

and Microsoft ( MSFT ) rose 0.4% and 0.2%,

respectively.

Focus will now be on comments from U.S. Federal Reserve

officials, which will be scrutinized for clues on how the

central bank's members view the current economic situation and

path ahead for monetary policy, after recent projections showed

the Fed now sees just one interest rate cut this year instead of

the three previously forecast.

New York Fed President John Williams said recent inflation

data was encouraging, and things were moving in the "right

direction" for monetary policy in an interview.

Six other Fed speakers are scheduled for Tuesday, including

voting committee members Thomas Barkin and Adriana Kugler.

Hopes for multiple interest rate cuts this year, enthusiasm

for artificial intelligence linked companies and strong earnings

from other tech firms have helped support equities, although

rallies over the past few months have largely been on the back

of a handful of heavily weighted stocks.

Citigroup raised the year-end target for the S&P 500

to 5,600 points from 5,100, representing a 2.3% upside from the

index's previous close.

At 8:49 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 15 points,

or 0.04%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 0.75 points, or

0.01%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 13.25 points, or

0.07%.

Homebuilder Lennar ( LEN ) fell 2.7% after forecasting

lower-than-expected third-quarter home deliveries.

Edtech company Chegg ( CHGG ) jumped 17.6% after announcing

job cuts as part of a restructuring plan.

Merck ( MRK ) rose 1.1% after the U.S. Food and Drug

Administration approved its next-generation vaccine to protect

adults against the pneumococcal disease.

Markets will be closed on Wednesday for the Juneteenth

holiday.