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

markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window)

*

US job growth misses expectations; unemployment rate rises

*

Bets up on a half-percentage-point Fed rate cut in

September

*

Chevron ( CVX ) down after Q2 profit miss

*

Futures down: Dow 1.17%, S&P 500 1.69%, Nasdaq 2.49%

(Updated at 8:46 a.m. ET/1246 GMT)

By Ankika Biswas and Shubham Batra

Aug 2 (Reuters) -

Wall Street's main indexes were poised to slump at the open

on Friday after weak employment numbers exacerbated worries of a

slowdown in the U.S. economy, with Amazon ( AMZN ) and Intel's ( INTC ) downbeat

forecasts also flattening megacap tech and chip stocks.

A Labor Department report showed nonfarm payrolls rose by

114,000 jobs in July, sharply lower than the 175,000 additions

estimated by economists polled by Reuters. The unemployment rate

ticked higher, to 4.3%, from 4.1% a month ago.

With fresh evidence of a weakening labor market,

traders are now betting

the U.S. Federal Reserve will deliver a big

half-percentage-point rate cut in September versus the 25-bps

cut expected before the data.

At 8:46 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 474

points, or 1.17%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 92.75

points, or 1.69%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 474.5

points, or 2.49%.

"Now the question isn't will they cut in September, but

by how much? With the Sahm rule (a recession gauge) officially

being triggered, both the talk of recession and criticism of the

Fed will grow louder," said Jay Woods, chief global strategist,

Freedom Capital Markets.

On the earnings front, Amazon.com ( AMZN ) slumped 9.9% in

premarket trading after the company reported slowing online

sales growth in the second quarter and said cautious consumers

were seeking out cheaper purchase options.

Intel ( INTC ) tumbled 24.5% after forecasting third-quarter

revenue below estimates and suspending its dividend, starting in

the fourth quarter.

Other chip stocks were also hit and were set to extend

Thursday's losses. Nvidia ( NVDA ) fell 5%, Qualcomm ( QCOM )

was lower by 3%, Broadcom ( AVGO ) lost 3.8%, Micron Technology ( MU )

shed 4.4% and Arm Holdings was down 5%.

Apple ( AAPL ) inched 1.3% lower in a broader weakness

in megacaps, even as it posted better-than-expected

third-quarter iPhone sales and forecast more gains, betting on

AI to attract buyers.

Other megacaps such as Microsoft ( MSFT ) and Alphabet

shed around 2% each. Meta also dropped,

losing 2% after soaring on Thursday following upbeat results.

Concerns about the dominance of the "Magnificent Seven"

group of stocks persist as earnings from most of these Big Tech

companies have failed to enthuse investors, underscoring fears

of their valuations being inflated.

Wall Street's "fear gauge" breached the long-term

average level of 20 points and touching its highest level since

last October.

Nasdaq 100 futures were trading 10% below their

record closing high, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite

ended nearly 8% below its own all-time closing level in

July.

Futures tracking the domestically focused small-cap Russell

2000 index dropped 3.6%.

All the three major indexes kicked off August with steep

declines on Thursday after a round of economic data spurred

worries of a faster-than-expected economic slowdown, with the

U.S. Federal Reserve maintaining a restrictive monetary policy.

The benchmark S&P 500, the tech-heavy Nasdaq

and the blue-chip Dow are on track to log losses for a

week in which the Fed opened the door to a September

interest-rate cut.

Among other movers, Snap lost 19.6% after

forecasting current-quarter results below expectations.

Chevron Corp ( CVX ) slipped 1.8% after the oil giant missed

estimates for second-quarter profit, hurt by weak refining

margins.