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Futures lower: Dow 0.07%, S&P 500 0.15%, Nasdaq 0.12%

June 21 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged lower

on Friday as megacap tech and chip stocks lost ground, with

investors awaiting manufacturing and services sectors surveys

for more clues on the health of the world's largest economy.

The S&P 500 crossed the 5,500 point milestone during

Thursday's session, however, both the benchmark index and the

Nasdaq closed lower as shares of megacap stocks pulled

back.

Nvidia dropped 1.5% in premarket trading on Friday,

after losses in the previous session saw its market valuation

fall back below that of Microsoft ( MSFT ).

Other chipmakers Broadcom ( AVGO ), Super Micro Computer ( SMCI )

and Qualcomm ( QCOM ) were down between 0.8% and 1.2%,

while Microsoft's ( MSFT ) shares fell 0.2% and Apple ( AAPL ) was down

0.3%.

Later in the day, numbers for the manufacturing and services

sectors are expected to fall slightly, but remain above the 50

level that shows activity is still expanding.

Wall Street has rallied in recent months, primarily driven

by the likes of Nvidia and a handful of other stocks linked to

artificial intelligence.

Investors are also assessing a string of weakening economic

data, and commentary from the U.S. Federal Reserve that interest

rates could remain higher for longer if there is no consistent

improvement in inflation data.

Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said on Thursday it

would take a year or two to get inflation back to 2%, as wage

growth might still be too high.

Still, all three major Wall Street indexes are on track to

close the week higher, as is the small-cap focused Russell 2000

.

Money markets are pricing in a 64% chance of a 25-basis

point interest rate cut at the Fed's meeting in September, and

still expect about two rate cuts this year, according to LSEG's

FedWatch data.

Friday's session will also mark the expiry of quarterly

derivatives contracts tied to stocks, index options and futures,

also known as "triple witching".

At 5:49 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 26 points,

or 0.07%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 8.25 points, or

0.15%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 24.75 points, or

0.12%.

Drugmaker Gilead's shares jumped 6.4%, extending

gains from the previous session as a late-stage study showed its

long-acting injectable drug was more effective in preventing HIV

infection in women compared to its existing daily pill Truvada.

Sarepta Therapeutics ( SRPT ) soared 34% after the U.S. Food

and Drug Administration allowed the expanded use of the

company's gene therapy for patients with Duchenne muscular

dystrophy aged four and older.