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* Trump to restore tariffs on Brazil, Argentina imports
* Chinese PMI numbers come in better than expected
* U.S. ISM manufacturing PMI due at 10 a.m. ET
* Retail stocks in focus on Cyber Monday
* Futures flat: Dow up 0.1%, S&P up 0.09%, Nasdaq up 0.01%
(Adds comments, updates market action)
By Arjun Panchadar
Dec 2 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were set to
open flat on Monday as President Donald Trump said he would
restore tariffs on metal imports from Brazil and Argentina, with
investors shrugging off a surprise rise in Chinese manufacturing
activity.
Trump said in a tweet he would immediately restore tariffs
on U.S. steel and aluminum imports from Brazil and Argentina,
surprising officials in the two South American countries and
prompting them to seek explanations. The news sent shares of steel makers including U.S. Steel
Corp X.N and AK Steel Holding AKS.N up 1.4% and 2.5% in
premarket trading.
"The concern here is what kind of retaliatory response those
countries might have, let alone sort of a re-escalation of these
tariff wars in the midst of trying to resolve one," said Mark
Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott
in Philadelphia.
U.S. stock index futures were earlier up about 0.4% after
data showed China's factory activity expanded at its fastest
pace in three years, reinforcing upbeat government data released
over the weekend.
The data follows a clutch of mixed headlines on U.S.-China
trade last week. Hopes of an imminent "phase one" trade deal and
upbeat U.S. economic data sent Wall Street to record highs early
in the week, but sentiment dulled on Friday after China issued a
sharp rebuke to a U.S. law supporting protesters in Hong Kong.
Recent numbers from the United States have indicated that
the domestic economy continues to be resilient despite signs of
flagging global growth, a message reinforced by the Federal
Reserve.
All eyes will now be on the ISM manufacturing activity
survey for November, due at 10 a.m. ET. The reading is expected
to rise to 49.2 from 48.3 in October.
Retail stocks also remained in focus, with Cyber Monday
sales expected to hit a record following $11.6 billion in online
sales on Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Walmart Inc WMT.N ,
Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O and Target Corp TGT.N gained about
0.3% in premarket trading. At 8:57 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 27 points, or
0.1%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up just 2.75 points, or 0.09%
and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 0.75 points, or 0.01%.
Among other stocks, Roku Inc ROKU.O fell 7.9% as Morgan
Stanley downgraded the video streaming device maker's shares to
"underweight from "equal-weight". Splunk Inc SPLK.O rose 2.5% after Goldman Sachs upgraded
shares of the company to "buy" from "neutral".