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Tesla up after report on six-seat Model Y plans

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Boeing ( BA ) drops after brokerage rating downgrade

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August ISM manufacturing data due at 10 a.m. ET

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Futures off: Dow 0.49%, S&P 500 0.53%, Nasdaq 0.75%

(Updated at 07:06 a.m. ET/1106 GMT)

By Johann M Cherian

Sept 3 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were lower

on Tuesday ahead of a slew of economic data reports due through

the week that could influence the extent of monetary policy

easing by the Federal Reserve this year.

The blue-chip Dow and the benchmark S&P 500

recovered from early August's losses and ended higher on Friday,

notching their fourth-straight month in gains, after data

pointed to a robust economy and moderating price pressures.

The Dow is at a record high and the S&P 500 is within 1% of

its own milestone as markets enter into what has been a

historically weak month for the main indexes on average.

Traders continue to scour for reassuring signs about the

economy, with the release of the monthly ISM manufacturing

survey due at 10 a.m. ET. Economists forecast the manufacturing

index to rise to 47.5, but remain in contractionary territory.

A number of labor market numbers will also be parsed through

the week, ahead of Friday's non-farm payrolls figure for the

previous month. The jobs market has come under greater scrutiny,

after July's report hinted at a greater-than-expected slowdown,

that consequently sparked a global selloff in riskier assets.

The central bank's meeting later in the month will be

closely observed, following Chair Jerome Powell's recent support

for forthcoming policy adjustment. Odds of a 25-basis point

interest rate cut are at 67%, according to the CME Group's

FedWatch Tool, while those for a bigger 50 bps reduction are at

33%.

"A very negative set of (labor market) figures could support

expectations for a 50 bps rate move in two weeks' time,"

Achilleas Georgolopoulos, an investment analyst at XM, said.

"However, the Fed probably wishes to avoid scaring the

market with such an aggressive first step considering that U.S.

data on the whole remains quite satisfactory."

At 07:06 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 206 points,

or 0.49%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 30.25 points, or

0.53%, Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 147.25 points, or

0.75%.

Rate-sensitive chip stocks led premarket declines, with

Nvidia ( NVDA ) down 2%, Broadcom ( AVGO ) dropping 1.4%,

Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ) losing 1.1%, after the

Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index's 2.6% jump on

Friday.

Among others, Tesla added 0.7%, after a report said

it plans to produce a six-seat variant of its Model Y car in

China from late 2025. Separately, the automaker's sales in China

logged their best month for the year so far in August.

Boeing ( BA ) lost 3.6% after brokerage Wells Fargo

downgraded the planemaker to "underweight" from "equal weight",

while Unity climbed 5.4% after Morgan Stanley upgraded the

software firm to "overweight" from "equal-weight".

U.S. Steel dropped 5.9% after Democratic presidential

candidate Kamala Harris expressed her concern about the steel

firm being acquired by Japan's Nippon Steel ( NISTF ).

Southwest Airlines ( LUV ) rose 2.5% after a report showed

Elliott Investment now holds 10% of the company's shares,

allowing the hedge fund to call a special meeting at the

carrier.

News Corp ( NWSA ) fell 4.7% after the media

conglomerate's arm REA Group ( RPGRF ) offered to buy Britain's

largest property portal Rightmove ( RTMVF ).