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Futures up: Dow 0.20%, S&P 500 0.31%, Nasdaq 0.51%

Sept 17 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged

higher as investors awaited a batch of economic data and clung

to hopes the Federal Reserve would deliver a supersized

interest-rate cut at its monetary policy meeting, which starts

on Tuesday.

After a choppy start to the week, the S&P 500 ended

its sixth straight session higher and near a record high on

Monday, helped by Financials and Energy stocks.

The Dow also closed at a record high. However, the

Nasdaq ended the session lower as investors rotated out

of tech stocks, which have led much of this year's

rally.

Microsoft ( MSFT ) rose nearly 2.0% in premarket trading on

the day after the AI-frontrunner's board approved a new

$60-billion share buyback program and hiked its quarterly

dividend by 10%.

Among growth stocks, Alphabet and Tesla

added 0.63% and 0.57%, respectively, while Nvidia ( NVDA )

inched up 0.30%. The yield on two-year Treasury bonds

hovered near two-year lows.

At 05:35 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 84 points, or

0.20%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 17.75 points, or 0.31%

and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 99 points, or 0.51%.

In economic data, reports on industrial production and

retail sales for August, expected later in the day, could

influence investor expectations on the size of the central

bank's first interest-rate cut this year.

Fed officials are slated to kickstart a two-day meeting and

traders are betting on a 67% probability the world's most

influential central bank will decide to lower borrowing costs by

a bigger 50 basis points, according to the CME Group's FedWatch

Tool.

Odds favoring a smaller 25 bps reduction have slipped to 33%

from 66% a week earlier, as investors focused on remarks from a

former policymaker supporting an outsized move and signs of a

cooling labor market, among other indicators.

However, Mohit Kumar, chief Europe economist at Jefferies,

said in a note that a "'safer' approach for (Fed Chair Jerome)

Powell would be to cut by 25bp", but keep the side door open for

a 50 bps cut at later meetings. "Proximity of (U.S.) elections

also imply that it would be a more politically neutral stance."

September has historically been weak for U.S. equities, with

the benchmark S&P 500 down about 1.20% for the month on an

average since 1928. The index has lost about 0.30% so far this

September.

Still, a survey of BofA fund managers showed global investor

sentiment improved in September 2024 for the first time since

June on optimism around a soft landing and rate cuts by the U.S.

Federal Reserve.

Among other movers, Intel ( INTC ) jumped 7.0% after signing

up Amazon.com's ( AMZN ) cloud services unit as a customer to

make custom artificial-intelligence chips.

Viasat ( VSAT ) dropped 5.0% after brokerage J.P.Morgan

downgraded it to "neutral" from "overweight".