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Q2 GDP second estimate, jobless claims data due at 8:30

a.m. ET

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CrowdStrike ( CRWD ) slips on FY forecast cut after global tech

outage

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Salesforce ( CRM ) gains after upbeat quarterly results

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Futures: Dow up 0.51%, S&P 500 up 0.31%, Nasdaq up 0.42%

(Updated at 06:11 a.m. ET/1011 GMT)

By Johann M Cherian

Aug 29 (Reuters) - Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures pared

early losses and edged higher on Thursday after AI chip firm

Nvidia's ( NVDA ) largely in-line forecasts, while markets remained

hopeful of upcoming interest rate cuts with economic data on tap

later in the day.

The chip bellwether's shares fell 2% in premarket

trading following largely in-line revenue and gross margin

forecasts for the current quarter.

"Here's the issue, the size of the beat this time was much

smaller than we've been seeing. Even future guidance was raised,

but again not by the tune from previous quarters," said Ryan

Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group.

"Nvidia ( NVDA ) is a great company that is still growing revenue at

122%, but it appears the bar was just set a tad too high this

earnings season."

Semiconductor peers Broadcom ( AVGO ) and Advanced Micro

Devices ( AMD ) fell 0.3% each.

However, the declines were limited by gains in Nvidia's ( NVDA )

heavyweight megacap customers, which have been the focus of

market euphoria on the prospect of artificial intelligence

integration boosting corporate profits.

Microsoft ( MSFT ) rose 0.6%, Meta added 0.8% and

Alphabet and Amazon.com ( AMZN ) rose more than 1%

each, while Apple ( AAPL ) gained 1.2%.

Yields on Treasury bonds also dipped.

At 06:11 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 209 points,

or 0.51%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 17.25 points, or

0.31%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 80 points, or

0.42%.

Markets have seesawed between marginal gains and losses in

the run-up to Nvidia's ( NVDA ) results, as traders waited to see if the

company would sustain its unmatched revenue growth. There was

also nervousness about what its earnings could mean for the

trajectory of highly valued AI-related stocks.

The benchmark S&P 500 is 1.3% from a record high,

while the Dow is hovering around an all-time peak, with

expectations for an interest rate cut in the U.S. Federal

Reserve's upcoming September meeting staying robust.

Odds of a reduction of 25 basis points in September stand at

63.5%, while those of a larger 50 bps are at 36.5%, according to

CME Group's Fed Watch Tool.

Focus will now shift to the second estimate of U.S. gross

domestic product for the second quarter and weekly jobless

claims data, both due at 8:30 a.m. ET.

The reports along with Friday's Personal Consumption

Expenditure data for the month of June could offer hints on the

central bank's monetary policy easing trajectory.

Among other movers, Dow-component Salesforce ( CRM ) beat

Wall Street expectations for second-quarter results, sending the

enterprise cloud firm's shares up 5.4%.

CrowdStrike ( CRWD ) dropped 2.4% after the cybersecurity

company cut its revenue and profit forecasts in the aftermath of

last month's global tech outage.