Wall Street set to open lower as tech selloff continues

By Yashaswini Swamynathan

REUTERS - U.S. stocks were on track to open lower on Monday, with the Nasdaq set to take the biggest hit as richly-valued technology stocks were pressured by a bout of heavy profit-taking.

Technology stocks have been enjoying a record-setting rally, helped largely by a recent string of strong quarterly earnings. The S&P 500 technology index has risen 18.5 percent this year and is on track to register its best yearly performance since 2014.

However, the index tumbled 2.7 percent on Friday, sparked by a sharp drop in Apple shares amid reports that the company is using slower modems in upcoming iPhones, compared with its rivals.

Shares of the world's most valuable publicly-listed company were off 2.34 percent to $145.59 in heavy premarket trading on Monday.

Closely watched technology stocks, including those of Microsoft, Facebook, Netflix and Alphabet, were also in the red.

"We're starting to question valuations of technology (stocks) at these levels and investors are trying to jockey their way around this thought process," said Andre Bakhos, managing director at Janlyn Capital in Bernardsville, New Jersey.

Wall Street's major indexes hit all-time highs on Friday, driven by banks and energy stocks but those gains were offset by the tech selloff later in the day.

Dow e-minis were down 18 points, or 0.08 percent, at 8:26 a.m. ET (1226 GMT), with 13,576 contracts changing hands.

S&P 500 e-minis were down 4 points, or 0.16 percent, with 143,151 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 51.25 points, or 0.89 percent, on volume of 34,454 contracts

Investors are likely to be on the sidelines ahead of the Federal Reserve's two-day meeting starting Tuesday, where traders see a 94 percent chance for an interest rate hike.

Shares of General Electric rose 3 percent to $28.81 after the company said Jeff Immelt would retire as chief executive and would be replaced by John Flannery, the head of GE healthcare, ending a years-long succession plan.

Shares of Apple suppliers, including Qualcomm, Skyworks Solutions and Micron Tech, were off between 0.6-2.12 percent.

Coherus BioSciences tumbled 32.5 percent to $13.95 after the FDA denied the approval of its biosimilar for Amgen's Neulasta, which fights infections in cancer patients. Amgen was up marginally at $164.85.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)