US STOCKS-Wall St set to open lower as U.S.-China trade optimism fades

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* Sept. PMI reading set to kick off data-heavy week
* Apple gains on tariff exemptions
* Wall Street posts worst session in 2 weeks on Friday
* Futures: Dow down 0.19%, S&P off 0.08%, Nasdaq flat

(Adds comment, details; updates prices)
By Medha Singh and Ambar Warrick
Sept 23 (Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes were set to open
slightly lower on Monday as investors were cautious about
progress in Sino-U.S. trade talks and waited for a slew of
economic reports to gauge the health of the domestic economy.
The indexes recorded their worst session in about two weeks
on Friday - ending a three-week run of gains - after a Chinese
agriculture delegation canceled a visit to Montana. Still, U.S. and Chinese officials described the deputy-level
trade talks last week, meant to lay the groundwork for
high-level negotiations in October, as being "constructive" and
"productive". "While chances of a complete deal are pretty remote, people
are pinning their hopes on any deal where they just stop the
escalation (of the trade war)," said Scott Brown, chief
economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Florida.
After the U.S. central bank's fairly upbeat assessment of
the domestic economy, investors will monitor a host of economic
data in the final week of the third quarter, including core
personal consumption data - the Fed's preferred inflation
measure - and final growth figures for the second quarter.
Data from the IHS Markit Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) is
expected to show U.S. manufacturing activity holding steady at
50.3 in September, and services PMI as rising to 51.5 from 50.7
in August.
The report, due at 9:45 a.m. (1345 GMT) ET, follows
disappointing business surveys from across the euro zone.
"We did see an increase in factory output and industrial
production number reported last week, but the trend is clearly
lower and that's a bit of a concern," Raymond James' Brown
added.
Investors will also be watching for a speech by Federal
Reserve Bank of New York President John Williams at the 2019
U.S. Treasury Market Conference.
At 8:52 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were down 51 points,
or 0.19%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were down 2.25 points, or
0.08% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 remained unchanged.
Apple Inc AAPL.O , the second most valuable stock on the
Nasdaq, rose 0.2% in premarket trading after U.S. trade
regulators approved 10 out of 15 requests for tariff exemptions
by the iPhone maker. Apple supplier Micron MU.O , which makes computer memory
drives, was marginally higher.
Boeing .BA.N dropped 0.7% after a Reuters report that
European antitrust regulators were set to investigate the plane
maker's $4.75 billion bid for the commercial aircraft arm of
Brazil-based Embraer SA EMBR3.SA . Additionally, the chief of the U.S. Federal Aviation
Administration is set to detail progress on the Boeing 737 MAX
aircraft to international air regulators, who are divided about
returning the grounded jet to flight after two fatal crashes.
Juniper Networks Inc JNPR.N rose 2.3% as Needham upgraded
the network gear maker's stock to "buy".