CORRECTED-US STOCKS-S&P 500, Dow head lower as COVID-19 cases climb; eyes on stimulus

(Corrects paragraph 10 to remove reference to Amazon.com
reporting quarterly results this week)
* Chevron slips after agreeing to buy Noble Energy for $5
bln
* Halliburton rises after results
* Pfizer up on securing UK supply deal for potential
vaccines
* Futures: Dow down 0.2%, S&P off 0.2%, Nasdaq up 0.3%

By Devik Jain and Medha Singh
July 20 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Dow indexes were set to
open lower on Monday as concerns about a jump in COVID-19 cases
curbed risk appetite, with investors also hoping for more
stimulus to shore up a battered global economy.
After the U.S. government's $3 trillion commitment to the
crisis 12 weeks ago, record levels of new infections have forced
many states to backpedal their reopening plans just as those
support programs are due to expire.
At least 14 states have reported record hospitalizations so
far in July and Florida saw 12,000 new cases on Sunday.
Furthermore, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
has warned that cases and deaths could rise this autumn and
winter. Congress is set to debate a new aid package this week.

Positive news related to vaccine development, stimulus talks
in the United States and Europe could be the three catalysts
that help the S&P 500 potentially break through its year-to-date
break even level this week, said Thomas Hayes, managing member
at Great Hill Capital LLC in New York.
Later in the day, all eyes will be on early-stage human
trial data on a vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca Plc
AZN.L and Oxford University. Signs of progress on a potential coronavirus vaccine,
improving economic data and a relatively upbeat start to the
second-quarter earnings season helped the S&P 500 and the Dow
rise for three consecutive weeks.
The benchmark S&P 500 is now less than 5% down from its Feb.
19 record close.
Oilfield services giant Halliburton Co HAL.N rose 5.2%
premarket as it posted a surprise adjusted profit benefiting
from aggressive cost cuts. This week, major companies including Microsoft Corp
MSFT.O , Tesla Inc TSLA.O , Intel Corp INTC.O and Honeywell
International Inc HON.N are expected to report quarterly
results.
At 8:20 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were down 45 points,
or 0.17%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were down 4.75 points, or
0.15% and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 26.5 points, or
0.25%.
Noble Energy Inc's NBL.O shares jumped 12.4% as Chevron
Corp CVX.N agreed to buy the Houston-based oil and gas
producer for $5 billion in an all-stock deal. Chevron fell 0.2%.
L3N2ER2FR
Pfizer Inc PFE.N rose 3.3%, after Britain signed deals to
secure 90 million doses of two possible COVID-19 vaccines from
an alliance of the U.S. drugmaker, Germany-based BioNTech
22UAy.F and French group Valneva VLS.PA . Valneva is also in talks with the European Union for a
vaccine supply deal.