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November retail sales stronger than expected

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Tesla gains as Mizuho raises rating

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Pfizer ( PFE ) up after in-line 2025 profit forecast

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Futures down: Dow 0.49%, S&P 500 0.45%, Nasdaq 0.37%

(Updates after retail sales data)

By Lisa Pauline Mattackal and Purvi Agarwal

Dec 17 (Reuters) -

Futures pointed to a lower open for Wall Street's main

indexes on Tuesday after strong retail sales data pointed to

consumers' continued resilience, while focus turned to the

Federal Reserve's interest rate decision this week.

Data showed November

retail sales

rose 0.7% on a monthly basis amid an acceleration in motor

vehicle purchases. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast an

increase of 0.5%. Retail sales excluding automobiles, gasoline,

building materials and food services edged up 0.4%.

"It's just further evidence that at an aggregate level,

the U.S. consumer is still in great shape ... that just proves

that the U.S. economy is on strong footing," said Eric Sterner,

chief investment officer for Apollon Wealth Management.

The U.S. 10-year Treasury note yield dipped

sightly after the data, but was still at an over three-week high

of 4.428%, pressuring rate-sensitive equities, as market bets

strengthened on a more cautious Fed in 2025.

Stock index futures pulled back after a fairly strong

session on Monday that saw the Nasdaq close at a record

high and the S&P 500 gain ground.

A 25 basis point cut from the Fed on Wednesday is all but

priced in, but most see the central bank holding rates at its

January meeting, as economic indicators point to continued

resilience and inflation remains persistent.

However, expectations that the Fed might project growth in

the next year, taking into account potential policies of

President-elect Donald Trump's administration, brings the "dot

plot" high up on investors' radar on Wednesday.

Rate-sensitive megacaps were mixed in premarket trading,

with Nvidia ( NVDA ) down 1.9% and Amazon.com ( AMZN ) dipping

0.5%. Tesla was up 2.1% after Mizuho upgraded the

electric-vehicle maker's stock to "outperform" from "neutral"

and hiked its price target by $285 to $515.

The CBOE Volatility Index, Wall Street's "fear

gauge," rose above 15 for the first time in nearly three weeks.

Still, U.S. stocks remain on track to end December on a

positive note with the S&P 500 set for its best year since 2019

with an over 27% year-to-date rise, powered by gains in

technology companies, Fed rate cuts and optimism on the impact

of Trump's corporate policies.

"I think there might be some profit taking ... this will

be the second year in a row of the S&P delivering returns of

over 20%, that's only a third time that's happened in the last

century," Sterner said.

Investor allocations to U.S. equities hit a record high this

month, according to a survey from BofA Global Research.

At 8:43 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 214

points, or 0.49%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 27.25

points, or 0.45%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 82.25

points, or 0.37%.

Crypto-focused stocks continued to rally as bitcoin

surpassed $107,000. MARA Holdings ( MARA ) gained 3% and Riot

Platforms ( RIOT ) rose 3.1%.

Pfizer ( PFE ) gained 2.5% after the drugmaker forecast 2025

profit roughly in line with Wall Street expectations.

Affirm Holdings ( AFRM ) dipped 3.6%. The "buy now, pay

later" firm proposed a private offering of convertible senior

notes worth $750 million.