US STOCKS-Wall St set for subdued open on mixed retail earnings ahead of Fed meet

By Johann M Cherian and Sanchayaita Roy

Aug 20 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were set for a subdued open on Wednesday as investors assessed uneven earnings from retailers such as Target and Lowe's for clues on consumer spending ahead of a Federal Reserve symposium later this week.

Earnings from big retailers, seen as a barometer for the health of the American consumer, are in the spotlight as sentiment has taken a hit from concerns that tariffs could drive prices higher.

Target TGT.N plunged 10.5% in premarket trading after the company named a new CEO and retained its annual forecasts that were lowered in May due to weak demand for the discretionary merchandise it sells.

Cosmetics giant Estee Lauder EL.N fell 6% after tariff-related headwinds weighed on its annual profit forecast.

"Consumer spending is an integral part of the economy and what we're seeing now is continued weakness from the consumer, that's why you see stocks like Target down 9%," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of 50 Park Investments in New York.

In contrast, home improvement retailer Lowe's LOW.N gained 2.9% after raising its annual sales forecast and on plans to buy Foundation Building Materials for nearly $8.8 billion.

At 08:57 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis YMcv1 were down 7 points, or 0.02%, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were down 6 points, or 0.09%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were down 43.75 points, or 0.19%.

The S&P 500 .SPX and the Nasdaq .IXIC marked their worst session in more than two weeks on Tuesday as investors started to take stock of elevated valuations in the tech sector that was the biggest force behind the market's recovery from the April selloff.

Deepening concerns of government interference with companies, sources said the Trump administration was looking into taking equity stakes in chip companies in exchange for grants under the CHIPS Act - just weeks after signing unprecedented revenue-sharing deals with Nvidia and AMD.

Nvidia NVDA.O was up 0.2% in choppy trading, while Advanced Micro Devices AMD.O lost 1.1% and Micron Technology MU.O fell 2.5%. Nvidia is also expected to report quarterly results on Aug. 27.

"If the selling gets worse then you'll see a rotation out of tech and into undervalued areas of the market like biotech or healthcare stocks or small cap stocks," Sarhan said.

Minutes from the Fed's July meeting, where interest rates were left unchanged, are expected at 2:00 p.m. ET. It could set the tone before the central bank's highly anticipated conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, between August 21 and 23.

Chair Jerome Powell is expected to speak on Friday and his remarks will be scrutinized for any clues on monetary policy, even as investors price in a 25-basis-point interest rate cut in September, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Remarks from Governor Christopher Waller and Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic are expected later in the day.

Recent economic data has suggested that the economy is yet to feel the full impact of tariffs and strategists expect the lingering uncertainty to temper market optimism, leaving the benchmark S&P 500 to potentially end the year just below current near-record levels.

On the trade front, the Commerce Department slapped 50% import levies on more than 400 "derivative" steel and aluminum products.