Futures inch up as investors pin hopes on Fed rate cuts

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* Futures up: Dow 0.06%, S&P 0.07%, Nasdaq 0.03%

Dec 19 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Tuesday, building on strong gains in recent weeks as investors continued to bet on a policy pivot by the Federal Reserve next year.

The benchmark S&P 500 trades just 1.2% shy of its all-time closing high as traders price in an aggressive timetable for interest rate cuts next year after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said last week the historic tightening of monetary policy is likely over.

Despite attempts by policymakers to temper the optimism since, traders have priced in a 67% chance of the Fed cutting rates by 25 basis points in March, as per the CMEGroup's FedWatch tool, and cuts of 143 bps by December 2024.

The S&P 500 marked a seventh straight week of gains on Friday, its longest winning streak since 2017, while the blue-chip Dow is trading near all-time highs.

Housing starts number for November is due at 8:30 a.m. ET. Investors are awaiting a slew of economic data this week, with focus on the final reading of third-quarter GDP on Thursday, followed by monthly personal consumption expenditure index (PCE) on Friday, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge.

San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said on Monday that cuts to the U.S. central bank's benchmark rate are likely be appropriate next year because of an improvement in inflation this year, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Fed Atlanta President Raphael Bostic and Fed Chicago President Austan Goolsbee are scheduled to speak later in the day. Daly and Bostic are voting members in the FOMC's rate-setting committee next year.

At 5:36 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 21 points, or 0.06%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 3.25 points, or 0.07%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 4.5 points, or 0.03%.

Apple shares were flat in premarket trading after the company said it would pause sales of its Series 9 and Ultra 2 smartwatches in the United States from this week, as it deals with a patent dispute over the technology that enables the blood oxygen feature on the devices.

PepsiCo slipped 0.6% after J.P. Morgan downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "overweight".

Plug Power fell 3.4% after Piper Sandler downgraded the hydrogen fuel cell firm to "underweight". (Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)