(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock

markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.)

*

Crypto-related stocks drop as bitcoin falls

*

Most chip stocks under pressure, Nvidia ( NVDA ) falls

*

Futures down: Dow 0.21%, S&P 0.47%, Nasdaq 0.70%

(Updated at 8:14 a.m. ET/1214 GMT)

By Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Shashwat Chauhan

March 19 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main stock indexes

were set to open lower on Tuesday as investors braced for the

Federal Reserve's March policy meeting and chip stocks weakened.

All three major stock indexes finished higher in the

previous session, with the Nasdaq bouncing back from two

successive small weekly losses as growth stocks such as Alphabet

and Tesla boosted the tech-heavy index.

Most megacap growth stocks were under pressure in premarket

trading.

Investor darling Nvidia ( NVDA ) fell 2.1% after the company

unveiled the Blackwell B200, an AI chip it says is up to 30

times faster than its previous chip. Some investors suggested

the news was priced into the high-flying stock.

Fellow chipmakers such as AMD, Marvell Technology ( MRVL )

and Intel ( INTC ) shed between 1.0% and 3.0%.

AI server maker Super Micro Computer ( SMCI ) dropped nearly

10% after announcing that it will sell 2 million shares that

could fetch about $2 billion.

All eyes are on U.S. central bankers who are expected to

hold rates steady at the end of their two-day meeting on

Wednesday.

But, investors are concerned that their new economic

projections may be a wild card, potentially signaling fewer

interest rate cuts and a later start to the policy easing cycle.

"It's all about the dot plot," said Mike Reynolds, vice

president of investment strategy at Glenmede.

"There's almost no expectation that they're taking rates

off the highs but the Fed is going to be taking a hard look at

inflation, which for the first two months of the year has been

pretty sticky."

Robust inflation data has pushed traders to pull back bets

of the first rate cut coming in June to 55.2% from 71% at the

start of last week, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

At 8:14 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 82

points, or 0.21%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 24.75

points, or 0.47%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down

127.75 points, or 0.7%.

Among other movers, crypto-exchange operator Coinbase Global ( COIN )

and miners Riot Platforms ( RIOT ) and Marathon Digital

Holdings ( MARA ) shed between 5.2% and 6.3%, tracking the sharp

slide in bitcoin.

Spire Global ( SPIR ) jumped 14.9% after the company

announced a collaboration with Nvidia ( NVDA ) for AI-driven weather

prediction.