US STOCKS-Wall St to open subdued ahead of labor data; Powell signals modest rate cuts

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Aug JOLTS report, Sept. ISM survey due at 10 a.m. ET

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Boeing (BA) slips after report of weighing capital raise

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Port strike halts half of ocean shipping, retailers unchanged

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Futures: Dow off 0.29%, S&P 500 off 0.10%, Nasdaq up 0.01%

(Updated at 8:36 a.m. ET/ 1236 GMT)

By Johann M Cherian and Purvi Agarwal

Oct 1 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were set for a flat to lower open on Tuesday ahead of the first of multiple job reports this week, a day after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell pushed back against market expectations for outsized interest rate cuts.

Powell at a conference on Monday reiterated that the central bank is likely to reduce borrowing costs by an additional 50 basis points by year-end, based on data that pointed to robust consumer spending and gross domestic income.

Traders, who were divided over the size of the Fed's upcoming interest rate cuts, are now pricing in a 60.3% probability of a 25 bps reduction at the November meeting, compared with 41.8% a week ago, as per the CME Group's FedWatch Tool.

With inflation nearing the central bank's 2% target, the Fed is squarely focused on the labor market after kicking off its monetary policy easing cycle in September.

August's job openings and labor turnover survey (JOLTS) and the Institute for Supply Management's estimate for manufacturing activity in September are both due at 10 a.m. ET.

"The path of the Fed is assumed to be cutting rates successively and that seems to be driving force behind markets. So at least until we get into the teeth of earnings the labor market data is extraordinarily important," said Keith Buchanan, senior portfolio manager at GLOBALT Investments.

"There is increased easing of the labor market in a gradual pace, but it is not necessarily going to thrust us into a recession in the near term."

Dow E-minis were down 123 points, or 0.29%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 5.75 points, or 0.1% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 1.25 points, or 0.01%.

Investors will also parse comments from Fed presidents Raphael Bostic, Thomas Barkin and Susan Collins, alongside Governor Lisa Cook, for their insights on the economy and the monetary policy outlook through the day.

Wall Street's three main indexes closed September higher, bucking a historical trend where equities' performance have been weak on average during the month. The benchmark S&P 500 and blue-chip Dow notched their fifth straight month in gains and closed near record highs in the previous session.

Markets also monitored a port strike on the East Coast and the Gulf Coast halting the flow of about half the nation's ocean shipping.

Retailers account for half of all container shipping volumes and shares of Designer Brands (DBI), Costco, Walmart (WMT) were little changed in premarket trading.

Boeing (BA) dipped 1.2% after a report said the planemaker is considering

raising at least $10 billion

by selling new stock.

CVS Health (CVS) added 1.9% after a report showed the healthcare firm is exploring options that could include a break-up of the company to separate its retail and insurance units.

McCormick (MKC) was up 1.5% after the hot sauce maker raised annual forecasts and beat third-quarter estimates.

Tesla was up 0.4% ahead of reporting third-quarter deliveries on Wednesday, with analysts expecting an 8% jump from a year ago.

Ford gained 2.1% after a report showed Goldman Sachs upgraded the automaker's stock to "buy" from "neutral". (Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)