(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock

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Futures up: Dow 0.33%, S&P 500 0.26%, Nasdaq 0.23%

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Alphabet strikes $10 bln cloud deal with Meta, shares up

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Intuit falls after forecasting Q1 revenue growth below

estimates

(Updates prices throughout, adds Intuit results)

By Shashwat Chauhan and Sanchayaita Roy

Aug 22 (Reuters) -

U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Friday, recovering

slightly from the previous session's losses as investors awaited

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's address at the Jackson

Hole Symposium for clues on the interest-rate path.

At the Wyoming research conference last year, Powell had

promised to lower rates and support the job market when the

unemployment rate started to rise, while in 2022, he underscored

the Fed's inflation-fighting rigor.

"Balancing the risks between a weakening labor market but

without commensurate easing in wage growth and inflation will

likely feature prominently in Powell's Jackson Hole speech

today," Geoff Yu, EMEA macro strategist at BNY said in a note.

Powell's comments, expected at 10 a.m. ET, could play a

pivotal role in shaping the rate-cut expectations for September.

Traders now see a 71.3% chance of a 25-basis-point rate cut

next month, down from a 85.4% chance a week ago, according to

the CME FedWatch Tool.

Markets had initially ramped up the bets following a weak

payrolls report at the start of August and after consumer price

data showed limited upward pressure from tariffs.

Other Fed officials speaking on Thursday appeared not to be

less keen on the idea of a rate reduction next month.

Earnings reports from big-box retailers earlier this week

offered a mixed picture as investors sought fresh signals on the

broader health of the American consumer amid ongoing tariff

pressures.

Retail bellwether Walmart ( WMT ) reflected the

concerns, with the CEO stating that tariff costs were increasing

each week. Target ( TGT ) and Home Depot ( HD ) were the other

key names in focus.

Against this backdrop, all three main U.S. stock indexes are

set for weekly losses, with the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq

on pace for their worst weekly showing of the month.

The S&P 500 took its string of losses to a fifth straight

day on Thursday. A broad-based selloff in heavyweight technology

stocks has kept U.S. equities pressured this week.

Information technology is the week's worst hit

sub-sector, while energy and real estate are

on track for mild weekly gains.

At 07:10 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis rose 150 points,

or 0.33%, S&P 500 E-minis gained 16.75 points, or 0.26%,

and Nasdaq 100 E-minis added 54.5 points, or 0.23%.

Among top movers, Nvidia ( NVDA ) slipped 1% in premarket

trading after reports the chipmaker has asked Foxconn

to suspend work on the H20 AI chip, the most advanced product

the company is permitted to sell to China.

Google-parent Alphabet gained 1.1% after reports

the company has struck a six-year cloud computing deal with Meta

Platforms ( META ) worth more than $10 billion. Meta shares last

rose 0.2%.

Intuit fell 5.7% after the TurboTax-maker forecast

first-quarter revenue growth below analysts' estimates due to

sluggish performance at its Mailchimp marketing platform.

Workday shed 5.3% after the human resources

software provider provided an in-line outlook for the current

quarter.