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* GE, 3M up on strong full-year profit forecasts

* Verizon climbs on surprise rise in subscriber additions

* RTX shares tumble on Pratt & Whitney jet engine problem

* Indexes: Dow down 0.03%, S&P up 0.13%, Nasdaq up 0.52%

July 25 (Reuters) - The tech-heavy Nasdaq and the S&P 500 edged up amid choppy trading on Tuesday as investors geared up for quarterly earnings reports from megacap technology companies Alphabet and Microsoft, and a rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

With the central bank on track for another 25-basis point interest rate hike on Wednesday, policymakers face a choice over how much weight to put on recent economic data.

"Inflation is coming down and the economy is softening and there are those that believe that no further rate hikes are necessary," said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth.

Given the signs of economic resilience, U.S. tech giants are expected to signal an end to a nearly year-long slowdown in their cloud businesses as technology spending and digital ads are likely to pick up.

Results from Google-owner Alphabet and Microsoft are due after the bell. Their shares rose 0.4% and 0.9%, respectively.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index has rallied nearly 35.3% this year, helped by outsized gains in rate-sensitive megacap growth companies on optimism over artificial intelligence and hopes of an end to the U.S. Federal Reserve's tightening cycle.

At 9:49 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 12.33 points, or 0.03%, at 35,398.91, the S&P 500 was up 6.07 points, or 0.13%, at 4,560.71, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 72.63 points, or 0.52%, at 14,131.49.

After logging its longest winning streak in over six years on Monday, the Dow edged lower in early trading, weighed down by a 1.7% slide in Boeing.

Four of the eleven major S&P 500 sectors advanced in early trading, led by a 1.3% gain in materials stocks tracking rising metal prices as investors cheered pledges of support in the readout from a Politburo meeting in China.

U.S.-listed shares of Chinese companies such as Alibaba and Bilibili added 0.1% and 0.6%, respectively.

General Electric jumped 5.5% after raising its annual adjusted profit forecast, betting on steady demand for aircraft engine spare parts and services from airlines looking to cash in on surging air travel.

Verizon Communications rose 0.4% after the company posted a surprise rise in wireless subscriber additions as more users upgraded their mobile phones and plan to access its 5G network.

RTX tumbled 14.5% after the defense firm said many of its Pratt & Whitney GTF engines that power Airbus A320neo jets will need "accelerated removals and inspections".

The S&P 500 earnings are now expected to decline 7.7% for the second quarter, as per Refinitiv data.

3M Co rose 4.8% after the industrial conglomerate raised its annual adjusted profit forecast, while Alaska Air tanked 11% after the airline's annual revenue growth outlook missed expectations.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.28-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and for a 1.03-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 18 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 27 new highs and 30 new lows. (Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Johann M Cherian in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Shounak Dasgupta)