By Shashwat Chauhan and Pranav Kashyap (Reuters) -Futures for the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 were subdued on Friday, with tech heavyweights still reeling from the prior session's rout as worries over sky-high valuations and uncertainty over U.S. rate cuts dented sentiment. Nvidia dropped 2% in premarket trading after a volatile session on Thursday when the shares swung as much as 5% higher before closing 3.2% down. The world's most valuable company surpassed third-quarter revenue expectations and forecast fourth-quarter sales above analysts' estimate late on Wednesday, while its CEO dismissed concerns about an AI bubble. "Relief around Nvidia's results didn't last long as investors couldn't shake their fears that the AI boom might have gotten ahead of itself," said Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell. All three main indexes were on track for their worst weekly drop since March. The Nasdaq has retreated sharply from its October peak and is poised for a steep decline in November amid skepticism over tech monetization prospects, circular spending within the sector and rising debt issuance. Global brokerages were divided over the likelihood of a December rate cut after Thursday's release of the long-delayed September jobs report, which marks the last employment reading before the Federal Reserve's verdict next month. The Bureau of Labor Statistics plans to skip its October update and instead combine October and November nonfarm payroll data in a single report due mid-December. Traders currently see nearly a 37% chance of a December rate cut, according to the CME FedWatch Tool. At 06:51 a.m., Dow E-minis were up 120 points, or 0.26%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 8 points, or 0.12%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 89 points, or 0.37%. Other chip-related stocks such as Advanced Micro Devices fell 1.3%, while Broadcom was down 1%. Megacap and growth stocks also fell, with Meta Platforms down 0.7% and Microsoft losing 0.4%. Consumer discretionary and information technology sectors are set for a more than 4% drop this week. "That's a sign of a frothy market where investors sell into strength, not chasing it," said Elias Haddad, global head of markets strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman. Investors will tune in to the public remarks from at least five Fed officials throughout the day, while attention also turns to November business activity and consumer sentiment data, due shortly after the markets open. Among other stocks, Gap gained 4.4% after the apparel maker beat third-quarter comparable sales and profit estimates. Cryptocurrency and blockchain-related stocks dropped as bitcoin and ether hit multi-month lows. Exchange operator Coinbase Global fell 2.4% and Strategy, the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, slid 4.3%. (Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar) (The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)
