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

0.11%

Oct 22 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures wavered on

Wednesday as investors treaded carefully through the thick of

earnings season, with Netflix's ( NFLX ) weak profit adding a chill to

market sentiment.

Shares of Netflix ( NFLX ) fell 6.8% in premarket trading as

the streaming giant missed Wall Street's third-quarter earnings

targets - a rare misstep that has prompted investors to tread

cautiously as earnings season hits full throttle.

At 04:59 a.m., Dow E-minis were down 16 points, or

0.03%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 2.25 points, or 0.03% and

Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 27 points, or 0.11%.

Weighing on the Nasdaq futures was an 8.7% drop in Texas

Instruments ( TXN ) after the chipmaker forecast fourth-quarter

revenue and profit below Wall Street estimates.

Peers Microchip Technology ( MCHP ) dropped 3%, while NXP

Semiconductors ( NXPI ) and ON Semiconductor lost more

than 2% each.

With equities hovering near record highs and valuations

stretched thin, investors are demanding more than just earnings

beats to justify lofty price tags.

Despite strong results from several big names on Tuesday,

markets remained indecisive. The S&P 500 ended virtually

unchanged, the Nasdaq dipped slightly, while the Dow

outperformed, closing up 0.5%.

So far, 78 S&P 500 companies have reported, with 87% beating

estimates, according to LSEG data. Analysts expect third-quarter

earnings growth of 9.2% year-on-year, up from 8.8% at the start

of the month.

All eyes are now on Tesla, which will kick off the

'Magnificent Seven' earnings parade after markets close. Its

shares rose 0.4%, while AT&T ( T ) was flat ahead of its results

due before the bell.

"Investors will also be on the alert for further tech

tie-ups, such as the recent partnership between chipmaker AMD

and OpenAI," Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS

Global Wealth Management said.

GEOPOLITICS AND DATA TROUBLES

Geopolitical jitters also loomed. A planned summit between

U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin

was abruptly put on hold, while uncertainty swirled around a

potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Despite recent signs of thawing tensions between Washington

and Beijing, Trump reignited doubts on Tuesday, saying the

meeting with Xi "maybe won't happen" - injecting fresh

uncertainty into an already fragile global sentiment.

With the U.S. government shutdown stalling the release of

key economic data, Federal Reserve policymakers may be forced to

navigate next week's policy meeting without a full picture of

the economy - a risky proposition as internal divisions persist

over which threats deserve priority.

Still, Friday's consumer price report could offer some

clarity on inflation. September's core CPI is expected to hold

steady at 3.1%.

Among other share moves, Alphabet rose 1.3% after

a 2.4% fall on Tuesday. Bloomberg News reported Anthropic was in

talks with Google to secure additional computing power valued in

the high tens of billions of dollars.

(Reporting by Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun

Koyyur)