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Futures: Dow down 0.03%, S&P 500 up 0.04%, Nasdaq up 0.08%

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FedEx ( FDX ) results top targets on cost-cutting, shares jump

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Lennar ( LEN ) falls after quarterly profit declines

(Updates prices)

By Purvi Agarwal and Sukriti Gupta

Sept 19 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were steady

on Friday, pausing after the main indexes rallied to record

highs in the previous session, while parcel delivery firm FedEx ( FDX )

rose after a quarterly results beat.

FedEx ( FDX ) gained 5.4% before the bell after reporting

quarterly profit and revenue above Wall Street estimates on

Thursday, as cost-cutting and strength in domestic deliveries

helped offset weaker international volumes.

Peer United Parcel Service ( UPS ), which abandoned its bid

for Mexican parcel company Estafeta, also gained 1.6%.

Wall Street's three main indexes closed at record highs on

Thursday, partly boosted by chipmaker Intel ( INTC ) after AI

leader Nvidia ( NVDA ) decided to build a $5 billion stake in

the company. Intel ( INTC ) was down 0.6% in premarket trading on Friday.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's emphasis on the

weakening labor market and indications of further monetary

policy easing also buoyed investor sentiment.

The small-cap Russell 2000 closed at an all-time high

on Thursday, its first since November 2021, on optimism that

additional interest-rate cuts could improve the outlook for

these smaller companies.

Futures tied to the index edged 0.1% lower on

Friday.

"We were expecting some wobbles around summer months and

were in buy-the-dip camp, but the dip hasn't really come... any

weakness in the economic data has been offset by expectations of

more Fed easing," said Mohit Kumar, economist at Jefferies.

At 06:44 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis fell 13 points, or

0.03%, S&P 500 E-minis rose 2.75 points, or 0.04%, and

Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 19 points, or 0.08%.

The three indexes were set for weekly gains, wrapping up the

week with the Fed's first rate cut of 2025 and reviving optimism

around AI-linked stock trading.

Markets will focus on a scheduled call between U.S.

President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to

discuss TikTok.

Analysts expect some volatility from "triple witching",

where options and futures linked to stock indexes and individual

stocks are set to expire on the third Friday of the last month

of the quarter.

Wall Street's three main indexes are in positive territory

so far in September - a month deemed historically bad for U.S.

equities. The benchmark S&P 500 has shed 1.4% on average in the

month since 2000, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Comments from San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly will be

parsed in the first media interaction after the Fed's Wednesday

meeting.

In other stocks, Lennar ( LEN ) fell 2.5% after the

homebuilder reported lower third-quarter profit and forecast

fourth-quarter home deliveries below estimates.

MetLife ( MET ) fell 1.2%. Piper Sandler downgraded the

insurer's rating to "neutral" from "overweight".