US STOCKS-Futures higher after rally on Powell's dovish remarks

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* Futures rise: Dow 0.22%, S&P 0.22%, Nasdaq 0.25%

By Medha Singh
July 11 (Reuters) - U.S. stock futures advanced on Thursday,
a day after Wall Street's main indexes touched new highs after
dovish comments from Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell
cemented the case for an interest rate cut this month.
Traders now see a one-in-three chance of a 50 basis point
rate cut at the July 30-31 meeting. Such bets had nearly
dissipated after a strong June jobs report on Friday.
In the first day of testimony before the Congress, Powell
said the U.S. economy is still under threat from disappointing
factory activity, tame inflation and a simmering trade war. His
two-day testimony resumes at 10:00 a.m. ET on
Thursday. Hopes that the Fed would step in to cushion any hit to a
record U.S. economic expansion have helped Wall Street's main
indexes resume their rally after a slump in May.
The benchmark S&P 500 .SPX has climbed about 19% this year
and crossed the 3,000 point mark for the first time. The
blue-chip Dow has risen 15%, while the tech-laden Nasdaq has
gained 24%.
Helping the mood, China's commerce ministry said on Thursday
Beijing and Washington can find a way to resolve their trade
dispute if legitimate concerns are taken into consideration.
At 6:52 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 58 points, or
0.22%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 6.5 points, or 0.22% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 19.75 points, or 0.25%.
As tame U.S. inflation continues to worry, the Labor
department's June consumer price index (CPI) data will be
closely watched. Economists polled by Reuters expect consumer
price index to remain unchanged in June after edging 0.1% higher
in May. The data is due at 8:30 a.m. ET.
In premarket trade, the so-called FAANG group - Facebook Inc
FB.O , Apple Inc AAPL.O , Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O , Netflix Inc
NFLX.O and Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O - were up between 0.3% and
0.6%.
Delta Air Lines Inc DAL.N rose 2.2% after reporting a
39.3% rise in quarterly profit, as the carrier benefited from
higher fares and flying fuller planes. This comes a day after American Airlines Group Inc AAL.O
raised its estimate for second-quarter unit revenue. Shares of
American, United Airlines Holdings UAL.N and Southwest
Airlines Co SUV.N rose between 0.5% and 1.3%.