US STOCKS-Futures climb as megacaps offer support, Fed verdict on tap

U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Monday as Tesla and Apple led gains in megacap companies, while investors exercised caution ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision later in the week. Tesla shares jumped 9.3% premarket after the electric vehicle maker cleared some key regulatory hurdles that had long hindered it from rolling out its self-driving software in China, the U.S. automaker's second-largest market.

U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Monday as Tesla and Apple led gains in megacap companies, while investors exercised caution ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision later in the week.

Tesla shares jumped 9.3% premarket after the electric vehicle maker cleared some key regulatory hurdles that had long hindered it from rolling out its self-driving software in China, the U.S. automaker's second-largest market. Apple added 2% after a report that the iPhone maker had renewed discussions with OpenAI about using the startup's generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Bernstein upgraded the stock to "outperform".

U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday, buoyed by moderate inflation data and a rally in megacap growth stocks following robust quarterly results from technology heavyweights Alphabet and Microsoft. Also offering support, Israel-Hamas peace talks in Cairo eased fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East.

Focus will now shift to the Fed's interest rate decision due on Wednesday, ahead of a key jobs report on Friday that could set the tone for market direction in the near-term. "We are not expecting a lot from the Fed this week. Powell would likely reiterate his latest comments that the recent set of strong data would delay rate cuts," Mohit Kumar, chief economist Europe at Jefferies, said in a note.

"Focus would also be on reducing the pace of (quantitative tightening)." Money markets are pricing in just about 36 basis points (bps) of interest rate cuts this year, down from about 150 bps seen at the beginning of the year, according to LSEG.

At 07:08 a.m., Dow E-minis were up 33 points, or 0.11%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 8.25 points, or 0.16%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 48 points, or 0.27%. Earnings season is in full swing, with adjusted blended earnings for the first quarter estimated to grow 8.7% on a year-over-year basis, according to LSEG data.

Domino's Pizza jumped 5% after topping Street expectations for first-quarter same-store sales, as consumers in the United States tapped into the pizza chain's spruced-up loyalty program and other promotional offerings. Of the 229 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported quarterly earnings as of Friday, 77.7% surpassed analyst expectations, compared with a long-term average of 66.7%.

Reports from 3M, Coca-Cola, Apple, Amazon.com and Mastercard are expected later in the week. Among other movers on Monday, Paramount Global gained 5% after a report that the Redstone family and Skydance Media CEO David Ellison have made concessions to make a potential change in control of the streaming firm more appealing for other investors.

Cryptocurrency-linked stocks fell premarket, tracking lower bitcoin prices. Crypto exchange Coinbase Global and crypto miners Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital were down between 2.4% and 3.6%.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)