Wall Street futures mixed ahead of Big Tech earnings, Fed meeting

By Niket Nishant and Utkarsh Hathi

April 29 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were mixed on Wednesday, in a cautious start to a day packed with several Big Tech earnings reports and a Federal Reserve meeting expected to be the last for Jerome Powell as its Chair.

At 6:43 a.m. ET, Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 91.25?points, or?0.34%, S&P 500 E-minis gained 4.75?points, or?0.07%, and Dow E-minis rose 19?points, or?0.04%.

Amazon, Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Google-parent Alphabet are set to report after the closing bell, when investors will gauge how their AI bets are paying off.?

Sentiment has been slightly dampened this week after a Wall Street Journal report said OpenAI had missed its internal targets for weekly users and revenue, reviving fears about the AI spending spree of tech heavyweights.

"After such a face-ripping rally in U.S. tech stocks, which has been the primary driver of Wall Street's recovery and record highs, doubts about returns and valuations have re-emerged," said Kyle Rodda, senior financial market analyst at Capital.com.

The OpenAI report could also give investors a "convenient cover" to sell and book profits in some outperformers, he added.

Amazon and Meta were flat in premarket trading, while Alphabet and Microsoft dipped 0.5% each.?

POWELL'S CURTAIN CALL?

Investors will also tune in to Fed Chair Jerome Powell's final press conference as the head of the U.S. central bank.

Republican Senator Thom Tillis dropped his objection to the Senate confirmation of ?Kevin Warsh, whom President Donald Trump had nominated to succeed Powell, after the Department of ?Justice ended ?an investigation ?into Powell that Tillis felt was a threat ?to the Fed's independence.

Traders expect the central bank to leave rates unchanged, but will closely parse Powell's remarks.?

The Fed has said it was monitoring risks tied to the conflict, and with tensions in the Middle East showing few signs of easing, some investors worry policymakers may have to factor them more heavily into their outlook.?

"While Powell's signals may be taken with some caution, given that this should be his last press conference, the risks are that he errs on the hawkish side," wrote ING Economics' FX strategist Francesco Pesole.

Iran's latest proposal for ending the two-month war would set aside discussion of its nuclear program until the conflict was concluded and shipping disputes resolved. Trump, however, said he was unhappy with the offer.

Meanwhile, major movers in the premarket session include online brokerage Robinhood Markets, which fell 10.7% after missing expectations for first-quarter profit.

Shares of data-storage companies climbed following an?upbeat fourth-quarter forecast from Seagate Technology (STX). Seagate (STX) jumped 17.5%, while peers Micron Technology (MU), Sandisk (SNDK) and Western Digital (WDC) gained 4.2%, 6.7%, and 9.7%, respectively.?

Coffee giant Starbucks (SBUX) rose?4.6% after raising its annual profit forecast.

Payments-processing firms Visa and Mastercard (MA) added?4.8% and 2.4%, respectively, after Visa raised its forecast for full-year earnings.?

NXP Semiconductors rose 18.3% after it said it expects second-quarter revenue and profit above Wall Street expectations.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant and Utkarsh Hathi in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Arun Koyyur)