Wall Street set to open higher after consumer spending data

By Abhiram Nandakumar

REUTERS - U.S. stock indexes were set to open slightly higher on Monday after data showed consumers spent more in February, the latest sign that an economic recovery was gathering steam.

A stream of recent encouraging data, including Friday's fourth-quarter U.S. GDP numbers, could embolden the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates sooner than expected this year even as central banks around the world consider more stimulus measures.

Wall Street snapped a five-week winning streak on Thursday as a strengthening dollar weighed on commodity-related shares.

The S&P 500 and the Dow are back in the red for 2016, after staging a sharp recovery from a steep selloff at the beginning of the year.

"The market is showing a little fatigue ... and the question is what's the next theme that's going to push markets higher," said Andre Bakhos, managing director at Janlyn Capital in Bernardsville, New Jersey.

"It's going to be a tug of war on economic data and the court of investor opinion as to what exactly the Fed does," Bakhos said.

A report by the Commerce Department on Monday showed consumer spending rose 0.1 percent in February, in line with expectations.

Core personal consumption expenditures (PCE), which excludes food and energy, gained 0.1 percent after advancing 0.3 percent in January.

Core PCE is the Fed's preferred inflation measure and is running below the U.S. central bank's 2 percent target.

At 8:33 a.m. ET (1233 GMT), Dow e-minis were up 32 points, or 0.18 percent, with 10,607 contracts changing hands. S&P 500 e-minis were up 4.5 points, or 0.22 percent, with 60,414 contracts traded. Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 13.25 points, or 0.3 percent, on volume of 9,319 contracts.

Data on Friday showed U.S. economic growth slowed in the fourth quarter, but not as sharply as previously estimated.

Shares of GameStop were down 6.5 percent at $28.30 premarket, after the company on Thursday forecast quarterly revenue below estimates.

Avon Products was up 5.1 percent at $4.50 after the cosmetics maker said it had reached an agreement with Barington Capital over the appointment of an independent director to the board.

Cal-Maine Foods was up 7.2 percent at $54.75 after its results.

(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)