June 27 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures slipped on Thursday as a slump in Micron Technology after a lackluster forecast dragged down other semiconductor stocks, while caution ahead of economic data and a presidential debate also dented sentiment.
The memory chipmaker's (MU.O), opens new tab shares lost 5.8% premarket after an in-line fourth-quarter revenue forecast disappointed investors hoping for more upside from the company's performance in the artificial intelligence boom. Optimism around AI-driven demand had lifted the stock 14% this month ahead of earnings.
"Anything less than fantastic is not good enough when your share price got multiplied by three in just about 18 months," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank.
Micron weighed on other semiconductor stocks including AI-trade favorite Nvidia (NVDA.O), opens new tab, which fell 1.6%. Arm Holdings , Qualcomm (QCOM.O), opens new tab and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O), opens new tab were down between 0.2% and 0.7%.
With a handful of expensive heavily weighted stocks supporting Wall Street's ascent since the last leg of 2023, market participants have highlighted concerns over the rally's sustainability and have called out for the need to diversify portfolios to hedge against possible sharp losses.
Wall Street's three major indexes eked out modest gains in Wednesday's choppy trading, with Amazon.com (AMZN.O), opens new tab hitting $2 trillion in market value for the first time. The retail giant's shares edged 0.1% higher in lackluster trading for megacap tech stocks.
Focus now shifts to a slate of economic data including durable goods for May, weekly jobless claims and first-quarter PCE and GDP figures before markets open, ahead of Friday's release of the monthly personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index - the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge.
Investors have largely stuck to their view of around two rate cuts this year, as per LSEG's FedWatch data, even though the U.S. central bank has projected only one.
Chances of an at least 25-basis-point rate cut in September, however, have slipped slightly to 56.4% from over 60% earlier in the week.
Further, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are set to face each other in the first debate during the day, ahead of their rematch this November.
At 7:14 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 70 points, or 0.18%, S&P 500 e-minis were down 8.75 points, or 0.16%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 40.5 points, or 0.2%.
Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA.O), opens new tab fell 5.6% after cutting its 2024 profit forecast, citing lower consumer spending.
Nike (NKE.N), opens new tab is due to report results after the closing bell.
Denim maker Levi Strauss (LEVI.N), opens new tab slumped 15.3% after falling short of expectations for second-quarter revenue, while U.S.-listed shares of Canada's BlackBerry rose 7.7% after beating first-quarter revenue estimates.
International Paper (IP.N), opens new tab dropped 14.4% after the world's largest pulp manufacturer, Brazil's Suzano (SUZB3.SA), opens new tab, terminated talks to buy the U.S.-based firm.
Reporting by Ankika Biswas and Lisa Mattackal in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel
