US STOCKS-Futures muted as indexes hover near record-highs

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* Futures up: Dow 0.08%, S&P 0.09%, Nasdaq 0.08%

By Manas Mishra

Dec 24 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures hovered near

record-highs on Tuesday, buoyed by optimism about the global

economy in the wake of improving trade relations between

Washington and Beijing.

Volumes are expected to decline this week as traders break

for the Christmas holidays, with the main U.S. stock exchanges

to close at 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday and remain shut on Christmas

All three major stock indexes closed at record-highs on

Monday, after President Donald Trump said the United States and

China would sign their Phase 1 trade pact "very shortly".

"This holiday period should be rather calm as trade updates

appear very constructive as we near the finalization of the

phase-one trade deal next month," Edward Moya, senior market

analyst at OANDA, wrote in a note.

A much-awaited breakthrough in the trade war between the

world's top two economies has sent financial markets across the

world into record territory this month. MKTS/GLOB

The S&P 500 .SPX is up nearly 29% so far in 2019 and set

for its best year since 2013, also powered by three interest

rate cuts by the Federal Reserve and easing fears of a

recession.

Investors were wary at the beginning of the month about the

stock market mirroring a slump from December 2018, when

U.S.-China trade tensions escalated sharply, marking the worst

December on Wall Street since the Great Depression. "The reason we won't see a repeat of last year is because

there are no fears of any of the major central banks tightening

policy anytime soon," Moya said.

At 7:15 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 22 points, or

0.08%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 2.75 points, or 0.09% and

Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 7.25 points, or 0.08%.

Among the few individual movers premarket, Advanced Micro

Devices Inc AMD.O rose 0.9% after RBC Capital Markets raised

it price target on the chipmaker's shares on improving data

centre demand.

Boeing Co BA.N was indicated slightly higher, a day after

the beleaguered planemaker ousted Chief Executive Dennis

Muilenburg as it grapples with the crisis around its grounded

737 MAX jets.