Stock futures flat amid German political turmoil

[November 20, 2017]   By Sruthi Shankar

(Reuters) - U.S. stock markets were set to open largely flat on Monday, with the collapse of coalition talks in Germany keeping global investors edgy at the start of the Thanksgiving holiday week.

* European stocks slipped as efforts to form a three-way coalition government failed, raising the prospect of fresh elections and casting doubt over the future of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

* With no major U.S. earnings or economic data scheduled for the week, trading volumes were expected to thin ahead of the holiday on Thursday and an early close on Friday.

* Wall Street ended last week on a sour note, with major indexes slipping as investors worried about the fate of the Republicans' tax overhaul plan.

* The U.S. House of Representatives passed their version of a tax bill last week. But the Senate, from which it has already faced resistance, is expected to vote on their version of the bill after Thanksgiving.

* Shares of Cardinal Health <CAH.N> fell nearly 3.5 percent in premarket trading after Morgan Stanley cut its rating, saying the drug distributor's medical segment gave it an outsized exposure to Amazon <AMZN.O> compared with its peers.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S. November 17, 2017. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

* Square  increased 2 percent, set to rise for the fourth session in a row, after Credit Suisse raised its price target on the mobile payments company.

* Alibaba gained 1 percent after the e-commerce giant said it would invest $2.87 billion in China's top hypermart operator Sun Art. Wal-Mart was down 0.8 percent.

Futures snapshot at 6:53 a.m. ET (1053 GMT):

* Dow e-minis were down 2 points, or 0.01 percent, with 24,669 contracts changing hands.

* S&P 500 e-minis were down 0.5 points, or 0.02 percent, with 162,243 contracts traded.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis  were up 3 points, or 0.05 percent, on volume of 30,154 contracts.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

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