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Q2 GDP second estimate shows US economy grows 3%

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CrowdStrike ( CRWD ) slips on FY forecast cut after global tech

outage

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Salesforce ( CRM ) gains after upbeat quarterly results

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Futures up: Dow up 0.59%, S&P 500 up 0.25%, Nasdaq up

0.26%

(Updated at 08:45 a.m. ET/1245 GMT)

By Johann M Cherian

Aug 29 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were set

to open slightly higher on Thursday after AI chip firm Nvidia's ( NVDA )

largely in-line forecast and data that showed the U.S. economy

remained robust.

Chip bellwether Nvidia's ( NVDA ) shares pared some losses

and were last down 3.1% in premarket trading, following a

largely in-line revenue forecast for the current quarter that

overshadowed upbeat second-quarter results.

"This is the first time that there has been criticism of the

estimates beat and the outlook raise. It is not as great as some

investors had anticipated," said Peter Andersen, founder of

Andersen Capital Management.

"Nvidia ( NVDA ) might be showing early signs of slowdown in capital

expenditure for artificial intelligence."

Semiconductor peers Broadcom ( AVGO ) and Advanced Micro

Devices ( AMD ) fell 0.5% each.

However, the declines were limited by gains in Nvidia's ( NVDA )

heavyweight megacap customers, which have been the focus of

market euphoria on the prospect of artificial intelligence

integration boosting corporate profits.

Microsoft ( MSFT ) rose 0.5%, Meta added 0.6% and

Alphabet and Amazon.com ( AMZN ) rose more than 0.7%

each, while Apple ( AAPL ) gained 1.6%.

At 08:45 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 245 points,

or 0.59%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 14.25 points, or

0.25%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 51 points, or

0.26%.

Markets have seesawed between marginal gains and losses in

the run-up to Nvidia's ( NVDA ) results, as traders waited to see if the

company would sustain its unmatched revenue growth. There was

also nervousness about what its earnings could mean for the

trajectory of highly valued AI-related stocks.

The benchmark S&P 500 is 1.3% from a record high,

while the Dow is hovering around an all-time peak, with

expectations for an interest rate cut at the U.S. Federal

Reserve's upcoming September meeting staying robust.

Odds of a reduction of 25 basis points in September stand at

67.5%, while those of a larger 50 bps are at 32.5%, according to

CME Group's Fed Watch Tool.

The U.S. economy grew faster than initially thought in the

second quarter amid strong consumer spending. Gross domestic

product increased at a 3.0% annualized rate last quarter, the

Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis said in its

second estimate of second-quarter GDP, an upward revision from

the 2.8% rate reported last month.

"The economy is not slipping into a recession anytime soon

and that's beneficial for the stock market, along with a rate

cut that's very likely coming in September," said Robert Pavlik,

senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth.

Separately, a Labor Department report showed initial claims

for unemployment benefits for the week ending Aug. 24 stood at

231,000, marginally lower than estimates of 232,000 as per

economists polled by Reuters.

Friday's Personal Consumption Expenditure data for the month

of June, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, could offer hints

on the central bank's monetary policy easing trajectory.

Among other movers, Dow-component Salesforce ( CRM ) beat

Wall Street expectations for second-quarter results, sending the

enterprise cloud firm's shares up 4.4%.

CrowdStrike ( CRWD ) dropped 2.1% after the cybersecurity

company cut its revenue and profit forecasts in the aftermath of

last month's global tech outage.