Bond Yields Rise, Futures Prices Slump

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were flat on Monday as Treasury yields rose on rising bets that the U.S. Federal Reserve Board could postpone a rate cut this year.

Hawkish comments from Fed officials last week and stronger-than-expected manufacturing and employment reports suggest the U.S. economy is vibrant, easing pressure on the Fed to cut rates quickly.

The major Wall Street stock indexes posted weekly losses on Friday as traders scaled back their expectations for a June rate cut from the Fed. According to the CME FedWatch tool, they now put the likelihood of the first rate cut in June at 48%, down from about 58% at the start of last week.

Market expectations for rate cuts this year have also been reduced to fewer than three, from three to four a few weeks ago, according to LSEG.

The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.45%, the highest level since November, weighing on stocks. U.S.

Investors will be watching for comments from Chicago Fed matron Austan Goolsbee and Minneapolis Fed matron Neel Kashkari later.

The March U.S. Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) data to be released later this week will also be in the spotlight, and is expected to show an aggregate inflation rate of 3.4%, up from 3.2% year-on-year in February.

In addition, the minutes of the Fed's most recent meeting will be released, in which the Fed stuck to its guidance of three rate cuts this year.

First-quarter earnings season will pick up pace this week, with banking giants JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo set to report later in the week.

Asset managers BlackRock and Delta Air Lines will also release quarterly figures this week.

At 5:38 a.m. ET, the Dow ePan was down 19 points, or 0.05%, the S&P 500 ePan was down 4.75 points, or 0.09%, and the Nasdaq Resonance 100 ePan was down 9.25 points, or 0.05%.

Tesla jumped 3.4% in pre-pan trading after Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said the company will launch Robotaxi on August 8th.

Cryptocurrency and blockchain-related stocks are higher on the back of rising Bitcoin prices. Exchange operator Coinbase Global, cryptocurrency vendor Marathon Digital and software company MicroStrategy rose between 5.7% - 11.9%.

Shares of U.S.-listed Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) rose 1.3% after the U.S. Department of Commerce said it would provide $6.6 billion in subsidies to the company's U.S. subsidiary for advanced semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona.

(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bangalore; Editing by Anil D'Silva)