US STOCKS-US stock index futures tick lower in lead up to data barrage

By Sruthi Shankar and Shashwat Chauhan

Feb 20 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged lower on Friday as investors awaited key economic data on growth and inflation while watching for a possible U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Donald Trump's tariffs that could be handed down in the morning.

A slew of economic reports on Friday including the preliminary estimate of fourth-quarter U.S. GDP, the Personal Consumption Expenditure index — the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge — and February's business activity and consumer sentiment data are expected to provide insights into the health of the economy.

Data at 8:30 a.m. ET is expected to show U.S. GDP increased at a 3.0% annualized rate in the prior quarter, according to a Reuters poll of economists, after growing at a 4.4% pace in the July-September quarter.

"Market pricing of growth has been choppier relative to the signal from the data," Goldman Sachs economists said in a note.

"We think there is scope for cyclical assets to continue to draw support from ongoing tailwinds from a US economy that is heating up, while protecting against risks and valuation challenges in other areas."

Technology stocks have been pressured in recent months due concerns over high valuations and limited evidence that massive investments in AI were paying off. Sectors ranging from software to real estate had been hammered last week by concerns that new AI models could upend their business models.

The mood among U.S. equity investors was largely stable this week, barring Thursday, when a drop in private equity stocks as well as Apple AAPL.O and Walmart WMT.O shares rattled sentiment.

The S&P 500 .SPX and the Nasdaq .IXIC are on track for weekly gains if trends hold, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq on pace to snap its five-week losing streak.

Private capital firm Blue Owl Capital OWL.N dropped 1.5% in premarket trading, after falling 5.9% in the last session, when the company's latest strategy to return capital from a small debt fund rattled investors and dragged peers lower.

Other private equity firms including KKR & Co KKR.N and Apollo Global Management APO.N were mostly flat.

At 07:36 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis YMcv1 fell 66 points, or 0.13%, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 lost 10.5 points, or 0.15% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were down 40.25 points, or 0.16%.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court could rule on the legality of President Donald Trump's broad emergency tariffs on Friday. If they are struck down, there is a risk that more than $175 billion in U.S. tariff collections would have to be refunded, according to Penn-Wharton Budget Model economists.

Oil prices LCOc1, CLc1 fell from six-month highs as investors assessed the fallout of growing tensions between Washington and Tehran, with Trump warning Iran it must make a deal over its nuclear program or "really bad things" would happen.

Energy stocks including Exxon Mobil XOM.N and Chevron CVX.N were slightly lower after rising in the last session.

Akamai Technologies AKAM.O slid 11.1% after the cloud company forecast first-quarter adjusted profit below Wall Street estimates.

Copart CPRT.O lost 7.6% after the online vehicle auction services provider posted a decline in second-quarter profit and revenue.