US STOCKS-Futures gain as vaccine hopes offset U.S.-China tensions

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* Futures up: Dow 1.03%, S&P 0.84%, Nasdaq 0.51%

By Medha Singh and Devik Jain
July 15 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on
Wednesday as investors took heart from signs of progress in
developing a COVID-19 vaccine, looking past record daily death
rates in some states and brewing tensions between Washington and
Beijing.
Moderna Inc's MRNA.O experimental vaccine showed it was
safe and provoked immune responses in all 45 healthy volunteers
in an ongoing early-stage study, boosting its shares by 13.9% in
premarket trading. American Airlines DAL.N , United Airlines Holdings UAL.O ,
Carnival Corp CCL.N , Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd RCL.N and
Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd NCLH.N rose between 6% and
6.8%.
Wall Street futures and Asian equity markets had pared some
gains earlier in the day after U.S. President Donald Trump
ordered an end to Hong Kong's special status under U.S. law,
prompting Beijing to warn of retaliatory sanctions. The three main U.S. stock indexes have recouped most of
their losses from the coronavirus-led slump, with a raft of
stimulus measures and encouraging economic data lifting the S&P
500 to within 6% of its record high in February.
With the second-quarter earnings season now underway,
investors are looking for annual forecasts from marquee
companies to gauge the pace of the rebound in Corporate America.
Trading powerhouse Goldman Sachs GS.N rose 1% ahead of its
quarterly report, a day after JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM.N beat
quarterly profit estimates due to a surge in trading revenue.
But largest U.S. health insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc
UNH.N slipped 0.1% even as its second-quarter profit more than
doubled. At 6:19 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 274 points, or
1.03%, S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 26.75 points, or 0.84%
and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 54.5 points, or 0.51%.
Apple AAPL.O rose 1.4% after Europe's second-top court
rejected an EU order to the iPhone maker to pay 13 billion euros
($14.78 billion) in Irish back taxes.