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Futures: Dow up 0.15%, S&P 500 flat, Nasdaq up 0.03%

Sept 23 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were

largely unchanged on Tuesday after a tech-driven rally drove

Wall Street to record closing highs for the third straight

session, while investors awaited Federal Reserve Chair Jerome

Powell's remarks on the economy.

Powell's comments could be crucial to shaping interest rate

expectations at a time when traders are weighing conflicting

signals from the Fed, with some officials arguing for measured

cuts going forward to keep inflation in check.

Newly appointed Fed Governor Stephen Miran, however, said on

Monday that the central bank risks over-tightening and harming

the labor market if it holds back, highlighting the tightrope

the Fed faces in balancing inflation against labor market

pressures.

"We don't really just have a clean recovery path from

the inflation highs of 2022, because we've gotten the shock of

tariffs that are basically occurring right when you would have

expected to be getting closer to that 2% target," said Michael

Reynolds, vice president, investment strategy at Glenmede.

"Right now, it seems like it's the labor market that has the

greater risk."

A September reading of S&P Global's flash manufacturing PMI

is due after markets open. Comments from Fed Governor Michelle

Bowman and Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic will also be

parsed.

At 5.41 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 71 points, or

0.15%, U.S. S&P 500 E-minis were mostly unchanged and

Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 7 points, or 0.03%.

Wall Street has rallied so far in September, a historically

weak month for equities, with the S&P 500 index recording

a 3.6% lift as tenacious traders navigate uncertainties around

President Donald Trump's policies.

Part of the resilience can be traced to strength in

technology stocks and renewed optimism around artificial

intelligence-linked trading. Some analysts have, however, raised

concerns of stretched stock valuations.

Nvidia ( NVDA ) slipped 0.7% in premarket trading on Tuesday

after hitting an intraday record high in the previous session.

The AI chip leader agreed to a tie-up with OpenAI to invest up

to $100 billion in and supply it with data center chips.

Investors will also be watching for potential

disruptions from H-1B visa regulations, particularly in U.S.

technology companies that rely heavily on skilled workers from

India and China. So far, mega-cap stocks have largely shrugged

off those worries.

Kenvue ( KVUE ), the maker of Tylenol that was spun off

from Johnson & Johnson ( JNJ ) in 2023, rose nearly 6%

premarket, rebounding from a 7.5% plunge that made it the top

laggard on the S&P 500 index on Monday.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday linked autism to

childhood vaccine use and the taking of popular pain medication

Tylenol by women when pregnant.

Boeing ( BA ) gained 2.5% before the bell after securing an

order from Uzbekistan Airways worth over $8 billion, while talks

for a Chinese order were ongoing.

ACM Research ( ACMR ) gained 5.4% as the semiconductor

equipment firm is set to join the small-cap S&P 600 index.