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Futures: Dow up 0.19%, S&P 500 up 0.05%, Nasdaq off 0.03%

Aug 28 (Reuters) - Futures tracking the tech-heavy

Nasdaq were flat on Thursday, constrained by a drop in Nvidia ( NVDA )

shares, as uncertainty around the Sino-U.S. trade war forced the

AI chip giant to leave out potential China sales from its

quarterly forecast.

The exclusion came despite the company having secured

certain licenses earlier this month to sell its H20 chips to

major market China, after reaching a revenue-sharing deal with

the U.S. government.

Its shares slipped 1.6% in premarket trading, as

some analysts also raised concerns about whether the company's

data center results hinted at tighter spending by cloud

providers.

Still, Nvidia's ( NVDA ) strong quarterly revenue forecasts, $60

billion share buyback plan and CEO Jensen Huang's upbeat

comments placated investors who were worried that the demand for

artificial intelligence infrastructure might be slowing down at

a time when valuations on the S&P 500 have also leaped ahead of

long-term averages and developed market peers.

"AI demand is not the problem for Nvidia ( NVDA ), it's more how

politics has got in the way of its grand ambitions for global

domination," said Dan Coatsworth, an investment analyst at AJ

Bell.

"The company is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Nvidia ( NVDA ) has technology that countless companies are queuing up to

buy, yet the U.S. trade war has made it difficult to sell

whatever it wants into China."

The enthusiasm around the earnings prospects from AI was the

driving force behind the bull-market rally that started nearly

three years ago on Wall Street. It has survived multiple hiccups

this year, including the unveiling of cheaper Chinese AI models

and the U.S. tariff-induced selloff in April.

Among semiconductor peers, Super Micro Computer ( SMCI )

lost 1% and Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD ) slipped 0.4%, while

major customers of Nvidia ( NVDA ) including Meta and Microsoft ( MSFT )

inched up 0.3% each.

Data analytics company Snowflake gained 14.4% after

raising its forecast for fiscal 2026 product revenue due to AI

demand.

At 05:29 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 86 points, or

0.19%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 3 points, or 0.05%, and

Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 6.25 points, or 0.03%.

The other dominant theme that has lifted the benchmark S&P

500 to record highs has been expectations that the

Federal Reserve could lower interest rates for the first time

this year in September.

Futures tracking the rate-sensitive Russell 2000 small-caps

index gained 0.7% before the bell, while S&P 500

futures were just shy of a record high.

Traders are pricing in an 88.8% chance of a September

rate-cut, according to data compiled by LSEG. However, any spike

in inflation according to the Fed's preferred gauge, the

Personal Consumption Expenditures index, expected on Friday,

could temper those expectations.

Thursday will bring a weekly report on jobless claims along

with a second estimate on quarterly gross domestic product.

Uncertainty also remains regarding central bank independence

while deciding monetary policy after U.S. President Donald

Trump's attempt to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook earlier this

week.

Among others, cybersecurity corporation CrowdStrike ( CRWD )

dropped 3.2% after forecasting weak third-quarter revenue.