US STOCKS-Futures drop, chipmakers weigh on Nasdaq

By Ryan Vlastelica

NEW YORK, Oct 10 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures fell on Friday, with the decline particularly pronounced in the tech-heavy Nasdaq index, which was weighed by weakness in chipmakers.

The drop in the group comes a day after Microchip Technology (NasdaqGS: MCHP - news) Inc warned on sales, saying an industry correction had begun and more bad news could be on the way from other chipmakers.

The stock lost 11 percent to $40.65 in heavy premarket trading and weighed on other names in the group. Intel Corp fell 2.4 percent to $32.80 while Micron Technology (NasdaqGS: MU - news) was off 2.3 percent at $29.92. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index is down 3.2 percent so far this week, on track for its third straight weekly loss.

In other tech news, Juniper Networks Inc (NYSE: JNPR - news) fell 6.4 percent to $19.59 before the bell a day after it also issued a sales warning.

Futures snapshot at 0824 EDT:

* S&P 500 e-minis were down 9.75 points, or 0.51 percent, with 360,952 contracts changing hands.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 39.5 points, or 0.99 percent, in volume of 62,954 contracts.

* Dow e-minis were down 83 points, or 0.5 percent, with 53,217 contracts changing hands. (Editing by Bernadette Baum)