Updates to pre-open prices

By Joel Jose and Twesha Dikshit

June 10 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were set to open lower on Wednesday, as a selloff in technology stocks continued and renewed tensions between the United States and Iran overshadowed a tame inflation reading.

Volatility has picked up across stock markets in recent days, as investors contend with a widening array of risks, including high valuations in the tech sector, escalating tensions in the Middle East and expectations that the Federal Reserve may need to hike interest rates to curb inflation.

U.S. consumer prices increased 4.2% in the 12 months through May, the largest gain since April 2023, data showed, as the Middle East conflict raised the price of gasoline and other energy products.

The pace of increase was, however, in line with forecasts, as per a Reuters poll of economists. This helped lift U.S. stock futures from session lows.

"While it is very much in-line with expectations, it's still moving in the wrong direction," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth.

"That hasn't changed the narrative around what the Fed will do at its next meeting, but the overarching consensus is that the Fed will hold steady."

The Federal Reserve is widely expected to hold interest rates in the 3.50%-3.75% range at its next policy meeting on June 17, as per the CME Group's FedWatch tool. Investors are pricing in at least one 25 basis point rate hike by the end of the year.

Technology and AI stocks have borne the brunt of the selloff as investors priced in a tighter monetary policy and worried about stretched valuations in the sector.

Nvidia NVDA.O, Broadcom AVGO.O and Micron Technology MU.O fell between 1.3% and 2.2% in premarket trading, with losses rising again after a brief rebound on Monday.

The rotation out of highly subscribed technology shares has aided other areas of the markets that have lagged this year, including healthcare, real estate and consumer staples.

By 8:46 a.m. ET, S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were down 29.5 points, or 0.4%. Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 fell 191.25 points, or 0.66%, and Dow e-minis YMcv1 dropped 188 points, or 0.37%.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran had taken too long to negotiate a deal and would now "have to pay the price," while Tehran said it would reassess diplomatic engagement with Washington after overnight tit-for-tat strikes.

Oil prices rose more than 1%, with Brent crude LCOc1 trading above $92 a barrel. O/R

The much-hyped $1.75 trillion listing of SpaceX SPCX.O on Friday, targeting a record $75 billion raise, could also pressure U.S. stocks as concerns mount over excessive optimism in the tech sector.

Among other movers, Super Micro Computer SMCI.O tumbled 11.7% after announcing plans to raise $7 billion through a series of equity and equity-linked financing transactions to fund component purchases for its growing AI server demand.

Nike NKE.N shares were down 0.9% after RBC downgraded the stock's rating to "sector perform" from "outperform".

Shares of trucking companies XPO XPO.N, J.B. Hunt JBHT.O and Old Dominion ODFL.O fell between 1.1% and 5.9% after Amazon AMZN.O announced expansion of its less-than-truckload freight services in the U.S.