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Futures up: Dow 0.04%, S&P 500 0.12%, Nasdaq 0.23%

Aug 27 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were flat to

marginally higher on Tuesday as investors held on to hopes for

imminent policy easing, with highly anticipated results from

Nvidia ( NVDA ) and crucial economic data expected later in the week.

The benchmark S&P 500 and the Nasdaq took a

pause from previous week's rally on Monday as investors sold

tech-related stocks and shifted their focus to the upcoming

earnings report from Nvidia ( NVDA ), whose chips are widely

used in the artificial intelligence space.

Nvidia's ( NVDA ) shares that led a recent bull-market rally were up

0.5% premarket ahead of the company's results on Wednesday,

which is likely to show that quarterly revenue more than doubled

and even a slight miss could hurt shares.

Some investors are concerned about the company's ability to

meet lofty expectations and have questioned the pace of spending

on AI by Nvidia's ( NVDA ) largest customers.

"Nvidia's ( NVDA ) earnings on Wednesday is by far the most important

event in global equities," said Peter Garnry, chief investment

strategist at investment platform Saxo.

"Given the underlying momentum in the AI industry and the

results we have seen from other companies in the AI ecosystem,

we lean in direction of Nvidia ( NVDA ) beating consensus and lifting

guidance for fiscal Q3 surpassing estimates."

Other chip stocks such as Broadcom ( AVGO ) rose 0.6% and

Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ) added 0.4%, after the

Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index notched a more than

2.5% decline on Monday.

At 05:32 a.m., Dow E-minis were up 18 points, or

0.04%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 6.5 points, or 0.12%, and

Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 44.5 points, or 0.23%.

Optimism about lower borrowing costs starting next month

following Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's explicit

endorsement last week also buoyed sentiment.

The blue-chip Dow closed at a record high for the first time

in more than a month in the previous session and the benchmark

S&P 500 is about 0.8% from its own milestone.

Traders are now betting on either a 25-basis point or a

50-basis point rate cut in September. Odds of the former stand

at a higher 71.5%, while those of a 50-bps cut are at 28.5%,

according to CME Group's Fed Watch tool.

The next catalyst will be the July Personal Consumption

Expenditure data on Friday, that could offer markets greater

clarity on how the central bank's policy easing could pan out.

Meanwhile, UBS Global Wealth Management raised the odds of a

U.S. recession to 25% from 20%, citing revised estimates of job

growth and the recent July labor report that showed softness in

the factors determining workers' income.

Paramount Global ( PARAA ) slid 2.5% after media veteran

Edgar Bronfman Jr withdrew from the race for the company,

clearing the way for Skydance Media to take control of Shari

Redstone's media empire.