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Futures: Dow up 0.05%, S&P 500 up 0.02%, Nasdaq flat

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

changed on Wednesday as investors held back on big bets while

awaiting an announcement after the Federal Reserve's two-day

meeting to assess the monetary policy path.

The U.S. central bank is widely expected to reduce borrowing

costs by at least 25 basis points at 2 p.m. ET, a move priced in

by investors after a series of economic indicators pointed to a

weakening jobs market.

Markets will closely watch Chair Jerome Powell's speech as

well as the "dot plot" projections to gauge the extent of

interest-rate cuts that could be delivered this year and the

next.

Market participants are expecting a rate reduction totaling

about 68 bps by the end of the year, according to data compiled

by LSEG.

"Investors will be watching whether Fed officials push back

against market expectations for a series of rate cuts extending

into next year," analysts at UBS Global Wealth Management said.

"Any hawkish element could challenge the currently positive

investor sentiment and trigger market volatility."

Meanwhile, Nvidia ( NVDA ) dipped 1% in premarket trading

after the Financial Times reported that China's internet

regulator had instructed the country's biggest tech companies to

stop buying all of the AI leader's chips.

At 05:26 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 22 points, or

0.05%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 1 point, or 0.02%, and

Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 0.75 points, or flat.

The Fed meeting will be a test of Wall Street's recent

rally, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq hitting record highs in

the last six sessions, boosted by rate-cut expectations and

revived enthusiasm around AI-stock-linked trading.

Wall Street's main indexes have gained so far in September,

a month deemed bad for U.S. equities historically. The benchmark

S&P 500 has shed 1.5% on average since 2000, data compiled by

LSEG showed.

New Fortress Energy ( NFE ) soared 48% before the bell after

the company reached an agreement to supply liquefied natural gas

to the Puerto Rican government.

Workday gained 5.6% after activist investor Elliott

Management said on Tuesday it had built a stake of more than $2

billion in the human resources software provider.