US STOCKS-Wall St poised for higher open at start of Fed meeting week; Tesla climbs

By Purvi Agarwal and Ragini Mathur

Sept 15 (Reuters) - Wall Street index futures pointed to a slightly higher open at the start of the week of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting, while Tesla shares gained following CEO Elon Musk's stock purchase.

The electric vehicle maker TSLA.O jumped 8.2% in premarket trading after regulatory filings revealed Musk had acquired nearly $1 billion worth of Tesla's stock on Friday.

This week, the Fed's rate decision will take center stage, with investors largely expecting a 25-basis-point cut on Wednesday following a series of economic indicators that pointed to a deteriorating jobs market.

Traders are pricing in a total of 68.9 points in monetary policy easing by end-2025, data compiled by LSEG showed.

"Everyone is anticipating at least one (25 bps) cut, some people are thinking 50 bps. That's overreaching, but the market is certainly built for one," said Joe Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading at Themis Trading.

"Anything less than that (25 bps) would be a severe disappointment and we'd have a very, very sharp sell-off."

In other developments, Nvidia NVDA.O declined 1.3% in premarket trading, as China's market regulator said it will continue an investigation into the AI chip leader after preliminary findings showed it had violated the country's anti-monopoly law.

Some other U.S. chipmakers also faced pressure after China's Ministry of Commerce launched both an anti-discrimination investigation into U.S. chip trade policies and a separate probe into dumping practices.

NXP Semiconductor NXPI.O slipped 1.6%, Texas Instruments TXN.O was down 3.3%, Analog Devices ADI.O dropped 2.6% and On Semiconductor ON.O slid 1.3%.

At 08:45 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis YMcv1 were up 99 points, or 0.22%, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were up 18 points, or 0.27% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were up 42 points, or 0.17%.

Wall Street's three main indexes had logged weekly gains in the previous session, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 hitting intraday record highs on Friday as technology-linked stocks remained resilient despite broader market declines.

The major indexes have performed positively thus far in September, a month considered historically bad for U.S. equities. The benchmark S&P 500 has shed 1.5% on average in the month since 2000, data compiled by LSEG showed.

Among the final datasets before the Fed's September 16-17 meeting, Tuesday's retail sales report will provide crucial insights into the U.S. consumer's health, following a slightly hotter-than-expected inflation reading last week.

VF Corp VFC.N gained 3.3% in premarket trading after the Vans-parent announced the sale of its Dickies brand to Bluestar for $600 million.

U.S.-listed shares of Smurfit Westrock SW.N rose 3.9% after UBS initiated coverage on the cardboard box maker with a "buy" rating.

Snapchat owner Snap SNAP.N dipped 1% after U.S. President Donald Trump hinted that a deal has been reached to resolve issues the U.S. has over TikTok ownership, at Sino-China talks in Madrid.