US STOCKS-Wall St set to open higher as earnings season gathers steam

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* US trade negotiators likely to visit China next week -
SCMP
* Micron jumps on report of Goldman upgrade
* Halliburton rises after Q2 profit beats estimates
* Futures up: Dow 0.25%, S&P 0.31%, Nasdaq 0.48%

(Adds comment, updates prices)
By Amy Caren Daniel
July 22 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were set to
open higher on Monday as investors eyed fresh trade developments
between the United States and China during a busy week of
corporate earnings, with results from marquee names including
Facebook and Amazon on tap.
Second-quarter earnings started off on a dour note last week
as results from major banks raised concerns about profit growth
in a low interest rate environment.
"We are going into another round of earnings which is going
to set the tone for markets, and U.S.-China trade talks look
like they can go forward and that is a positive thing," said Kim
Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners in
Pittsburgh.
The South China Morning Post reported U.S. trade negotiators
will likely visit China next week for their first face-to-face
talk with Chinese officials since the G20 meeting, when Trump
held off on fresh tariffs on Chinese goods. As earnings season progresses, profits at S&P 500 companies
are now estimated to rise about 1%, according to Refinitiv IBES
data, in a reversal from earlier expectations of a small drop.
Facebook Inc FB.O , Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O and
Google-parent Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O rose between 0.4% and 0.6%
in premarket trade, and are set to report results this week.
"I think their results are probably going to be fine, but
they will need to address their problems on impending
regulations and how they are going to channel that, so that it
doesn't impair their ability to grow money," Forrest said.
Results from technology companies have been robust so far,
with Microsoft Corp MSFT.O and International Business Machines
Corp IBM.N reporting profit beats last week.
Investors will parse through company results to gauge the
impact that the trade war has had on corporate profits, to see
whether results are poor enough to persuade the Federal Reserve
to take strong action this year.
Hopes of an interest rate cut helped Wall Street's main
indexes recover from a slump in May and scale new record highs.
The main indexes ended the week lower for the first time in
three weeks as investors dialed down hopes of a steep 50 basis
points rate cut at the central bank's upcoming policy setting
meeting.
At 8:25 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 67 points, or
0.25%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 9.25 points, or 0.31% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 37.5 points, or 0.48%.
Chipmaker Micron Technology Inc MU.O rose nearly 3.1%,
while Applied Materials Inc AMAT.O and Advanced Micro Devices
Inc AMD.O gained 2.8% and 1% respectively.
The stocks likely got a boost from news that White House
economic adviser Larry Kudlow will host a meeting with
semiconductor and software executives on Monday to discuss the
U.S. ban on sales to China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
HWT.UL . Micron's shares were also lifted by a report that Goldman
Sachs upgraded its shares to "buy" from "neutral".
On the earnings front, Halliburton Co HAL.N rose 2.5%
after the oilfield services provider's second-quarter profit
beat analysts' estimates. Walt Disney Co DIS.N rose 0.9% after its remake of "The
Lion King" movie collected $185 million over the weekend and
superhero movie "Avengers: Endgame" set an all-time box office
record.