Oct 3 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures climbed on Friday as optimism about an imminent interest-rate cut boosted investor sentiment ahead of the final trading session of a week marked by volatility due to a federal government shutdown that extended to a third day. .N

** USA Rare Earth USAR.O:

BUZZ- Rises after report firm in talks with White House nL3N3VK0GB

** Applied Materials AMAT.O:

BUZZ- Falls on $600 million revenue hit from China export curbs nL3N3VK0GF

** Duke Energy DUK.N:

BUZZ- Scotiabank raises PT on Duke Energy; upgrades to "sector outperform" nL3N3VK0JA

** Instacart CART.O:

BUZZ- Slips after Piper Sandler downgrades on rising competition nL6N3VK0FL

** CSW Industrials CSW.N:

BUZZ- J.P.Morgan cuts CSW Industrials PT on macro risks nL3N3VK0KA

** Shift4Payments FOUR.N:

BUZZ- Morgan Stanley cuts Shift4Payments' PT on low earnings optimism nL6N3VK0FX

(Compiled by Sahil Pandey in Bengaluru)

((Sahil.Pandey@thomsonreuters.com;))