* Futures up: Dow 0.27%, S&P 500 0.27%, Nasdaq 0.23%

* GDP, inflation data at 8:30 a.m. ET

* Meta down 1%; report says AI model 'Avocado' rollout

pushed to May or later

* SentinelOne slips 5.3% after bleak forecasts

(Updates prices throughout)

By Johann M Cherian and Utkarsh Hathi

March 13 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures inched up

in choppy trading on Friday ahead of reports on economic growth

and inflation, while a widening conflict in the Middle East

threatened to stoke price pressures.

Wall Street's main indexes were still set for their third week

in the red and investors also monitored developments in the

private credit market.

Markets will get an insight into the health of the U.S. economy

as the January releases for durable goods and personal

consumption expenditures are due at 8:30 a.m. ET, along with the

second estimate of fourth-quarter gross domestic product.

Reports on job openings in January and the University of

Michigan's initial estimate on consumer sentiment in March will

follow at 10 a.m. ET.

Crude prices hovered near $100 a barrel as hostilities in the

Middle East showed few signs of easing despite the Trump

administration's assurances of a swift resolution.

Efforts such as the International Energy Agency's record

emergency oil releases, and the U.S. 30-day license for

countries to buy Russian oil and petroleum products stranded at

sea failed to bring down the surge in costs.

"Beyond energy, what now concerns economists is the potential

impact on the entire global supply chain, because what transits

through the Strait of Hormuz does not stop at oil: a significant

share of global industrial production indirectly depends on this

corridor," said John Plassard, head of investment strategy at

Cite Gestion.

"In reality, if this situation were to persist, a large part

of the global economy could quickly come under pressure."

Spiking costs have complicated the work of the Federal

Reserve, which also faces a weakening jobs market. Interest-rate

futures and rising short-term Treasury yields suggest hawkish

monetary policy in the months ahead.

The central bank is expected to meet next week and is likely

to leave interest rates unchanged. Traders now see only one

25-basis-point interest rate cut this year, according to

LSEG-compiled data, compared with two before the war began on

February 28.

At 07:11 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 127 points,

or 0.27%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 17.25 points,

or 0.27%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 57 points,

or 0.23%.

Wall Street's fear gauge, the CBOE volatility index,

wavered and was last down 0.81 points at 26.48, while futures

tied to the rate-sensitive Russell 2000 index were 0.2%

lower.

The financials-heavy Dow has been hit the hardest

among peers over the past three weeks, putting it on track for

its biggest monthly losses since December 2024.

Credit quality worries deepened this week after Morgan Stanley ( MS )

halted redemptions at one of its private credit funds,

following similar moves by BlackRock ( BLK ) and Blue Owl

in recent weeks.

JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ) also restricted lending to private credit

players, while Blackstone faced a surge in redemptions.

Blue Owl's shares were marginally lower in premarket

trading, while the others were little changed.

Travel stocks, hit the most by the war and higher energy

costs, were marginally lower.

Airlines Alaska and American slipped about

0.2% each, while Carnival and Norwegian Cruise

slipped about 0.8% each.

Design software maker Adobe fell 8% as longtime CEO

Shantanu Narayen will leave his role once a successor is

appointed, renewing worries around its strategy as it grapples

with AI disruption.

Cybersecurity firm SentinelOne fell 5.3% after forecasting

quarterly profit below estimates.

Megacap Meta slipped 1% as a report said it postponed

the release of its artificial intelligence model "Avocado" to at

least May, from this month.

(Reporting by Johann M Cherian, Utkarsh Hathi in Bengaluru;

Editing by Maju Samuel and Devika Syamnath)