US STOCKS-US stock futures tick higher at start of Christmas week

By Sruthi Shankar and Shashwat Chauhan

Dec 22 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures kicked off the holiday-shortened week on a positive note, as technology stocks rose further on renewed enthusiasm over artificial intelligence, while investors awaited key economic data later this week.

A rally in tech stocks late last week, driven by Micron Technology's MU.O blowout forecasts and a benign inflation report, helped the benchmark S&P 500 .SPX and tech-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC reverse weekly losses. The tech sector had come under pressure earlier this month on concerns about inflated valuations and a surge in AI spending.

The latest rebound in stocks put the S&P 500 and Dow .DJI about 1% away from their record closing peak on December 11.

Micron rose 3.5% in premarket trading, while other chipmakers - Nvidia NVDA.O, Broadcom AVGO.O, Intel INTC.O and Advanced Micro Devices AMD.O - gained more than 1% each.

December has traditionally been a strong period for stock markets. Since 1950, the so-called Santa Claus rally has been reflected by the S&P 500 rising by an average of 1.3% over the last five trading days of the year and the first two trading days in January, according to the Stock Trader's Almanac.

Optimism around AI, a resilient U.S. economy and monetary policy easing put the three main indexes on course for their third consecutive year of gains, with the S&P 500 up more than 15%.

At 07:16 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis YMcv1 were up 13 points, or 0.03%, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were up 22.5 points, or 0.33% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were up 136.5 points, or 0.53%.

Trading volumes are expected to remain light this week, with U.S. stock market closing at 1:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday and shut on Thursday for Christmas holiday.

But key economic data, including the preliminary reading of third-quarter GDP, December consumer confidence data and weekly jobless claims, are scheduled for release this week and could shape market expectations around the U.S. monetary policy path.

U.S. consumer prices increased less than expected in the year to November, data showed last week, supporting expectations of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve next year.

"There were questions about the data's methodology given the government shutdown, but the print was still viewed as soft enough to make Fed rate cuts more likely," Deutsche Bank analysts wrote in a note.

Among other movers, U.S.-listed precious metal miners jumped as gold XAU= crossed the $4,400-per-ounce level for the first time and silver XAG= jumped to a record high, propelled by expectations of U.S. rate cuts and continued safe-haven buying.

Shares of Clearwater Analytics Holdings CWAN.N climbed 8.4% after a group of private equity firms led by Permira and Warburg Pincus clinched a deal to acquire the investment and accounting software maker for about $8.4 billion, including debt.

Honeywell HON.O fell 1.2% after the industrial conglomerate said it expects to record a one-time charge of about $470 million in the fourth quarter.

Meanwhile, brokerage RBC upgraded its rating on U.S. healthcare and communication services sectors to "overweight" from "market weight".