US STOCKS-Wall St set to open higher on gains in energy shares, rate cut hopes

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* Oil price surge 4%; Exxon, Chevron gain
* Tyson Foods rises after launching vegan products
* Disney up as MS sees higher Disney Plus subscriber growth
* Futures up: Dow 0.24%, S&P 0.23%, Nasdaq 0.30%

(Updates prices, adds comments)
By Shreyashi Sanyal
June 13 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were set to snap two days of
weakness and open higher on Thursday, as energy shares gained on
rising oil prices, with optimism of an interest rate cut adding
to sentiment.
Crude prices rose as much as 4%, a day after hitting 5-month
lows, after a suspected attack on two tankers in the Gulf of
Oman near Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth
of global oil consumption passes. Shares of oil majors Exxon Mobil Corp XOM.N and Chevron
Corp CVX.N rose 1% each in premarket trading. However, the S&P
energy index .SPNY has been the worst-performer among the 11
major S&P sectors so far this year.
"There is a positive correlation between stock markets and
oil prices which is the day's catalyst," Scott Brown, chief
economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Wall Street's main indexes have had a strong start to the
month on hopes that the Federal Reserve will act to counter a
slowing global economy due to the escalating trade war with
China. The benchmark S&P 500 index .SPX has risen 4.6% so far
in June.
U.S. consumer prices data on Wednesday pointed to a moderate
rise in inflation, adding to expectations of an interest rate
cut as early as July. The Fed policymakers are set to meet on
June 18-19 and markets have priced in at least three rate cuts
in 2019.
But on the trade front, there were doubts about any
improvement in what President Donald Trump called "testy" trade
relations with China in the run up to the G20 summit later in
this month.
"There is still uncertainty about trade policy and about
what the Fed is going to do. That is still keeping a lot of
people back on their heels at this point," Brown said.
At 8:36 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMc1 were up 62 points, or
0.24%. S&P 500 e-minis ESc1 were up 6.5 points, or 0.23% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQc1 were up 22.5 points, or 0.3%.
Market sentiment was also supported by comments from Chinese
Vice Premier Liu He, who suggested Beijing would soon unveil
more policies to bolster growth in the world's second largest
economy amid rising U.S. trade pressure. Energy stocks led the gains among S&P 500 companies trading
premarket. Concho Resources Inc CXO.N , Apache Corp APA.N and
Noble Energy NBL.N rose between 2.6% and 4%.
Tyson Foods TSN.N rose 2.1% after the meat processor
launched its first vegan and mixed protein products. Shares of
vegan burger maker Beyond Meat BYND.O fell 3.9%. Walt Disney Co DIS.N shares rose 1.4% after Morgan Stanley
raised its forecast for Disney Plus subscriber growth.