US STOCKS-Wall Street futures fall at end of wobbly week

By Twesha Dikshit and Purvi Agarwal

Nov 7 (Reuters) - U.S. stock futures inched lower on Friday, putting the main indexes on course for sharp weekly declines, as concerns about the economy and sky-high valuations in the technology sector soured sentiment.

The three main U.S. indexes ended sharply lower on Tuesday, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC falling almost 2% after Wall Street executives earlier this week warned a market correction could be on the way.

The S&P 500 and the Dow are both set for their steepest weekly loss in four, while the Nasdaq is poised for its worst weekly performance since March.

"We're in this period of pretty entrenched volatility, certainly off the back of banking bosses warning... amid all of this uncertainty, you are going to see sharp turns in the market," said Susannah Streeter, money and markets expert at Consultable Insights.

Optimism around artificial intelligence has pushed markets to all-time highs this year, but concerns over monetization of the technology and circular spending within the industry has dampened enthusiasm for U.S. stocks in recent days.

At 07:30 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis YMcv1 were down 120 points, or 0.26%, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were down 19 points, or 0.27%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were down 90.5 points, or 0.36%.

The CBOE Volatility Index .VIX, Wall Street's fear gauge, hit its highest level in more than two weeks.

Tesla TSLA.O was flat in premarket trading after shareholders approved the largest corporate pay package in history for CEO Elon Musk. Intel INTC.O shares added 0.8% after Musk said it could be 'worth having discussions' with the company to make chips.

With third-quarter earnings season in its final stretch, 83%of 424 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported results so far have beaten Wall Street expectations, according to Thursday's LSEG data.

This is the highest rate of better-than-expected results since the second quarter of 2021. Typically, 67% of companies beat estimates in a quarter.

Sandisk SNDK.O shares added 4% after first-quarter results. Shares of other data storage companies also rose.

Block XYZ.N missed third-quarter profit expectations amid economic uncertainty and intensifying competition in the payments sector, sending its shares down 15.1%.

ECONOMIC CONCERNS LINGER

The longest U.S. government shutdown in history has led to a data hole with Federal Reserve officials and traders alike having to depend on private sector indicators to gauge the health of the economy.

On Thursday, data from private companies pointed to layoffs in October, in contrast to Wednesday's ADP report that showed a rebound in private jobs.

"Key data points that investors rely on to give them some kind of sense of direction to the state of the US economy are just not available... publication of the non-farm payrolls reports are delayed for the second straight month," said Streeter.

The Fed is flying blind before December's policy meeting with officials divided on the best approach with inflation worries lingering.

Among other moves, Expedia EXPE.O jumped 15% after the online travel platform boosted its forecast for full-year revenue growth and posted third-quarter profit above expectations.

Take-Two Interactive TTWO.O delayed its popular video game GTA VI to November 2026, sending shares falling 6.3%.