US STOCKS-S&P 500, Dow set to ease from record levels; earnings, data in focus

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* Tesla rises after Canaccord Genuity upgrade
* Alibaba shrugs off $2.75 bln antitrust fine, shares rise
* Big bank earnings to kick off from Wednesday
* Futures down: Dow 0.13%, S&P 0.14%, Nasdaq 0.26%

(Adds comment, details; updates prices)
By Shivani Kumaresan
April 12 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones indexes
were set to open lower on Monday after closing at record levels
in the previous session, as investors geared up for the start of
the earnings season and a key inflation report this week.
A pullback in the benchmark 10-year bond yield US10YT=RR
from 14-month highs in April eased worries about higher
borrowing costs, helping richly valued technology stocks gain
ground and drive the S&P 500 and the Dow to record levels.
"Even with stocks at record highs, we expect further upside
thanks to supportive fiscal and monetary policy, improving
economic data and faster COVID-19 vaccination rates," said Tom
Mantione, managing director, UBS Private Wealth Management in
Connecticut.
U.S. consumer price data for March and $271 billion of U.S.
Treasury auction this week could end a recent lull in the bond
market, reigniting a rise in yields that worried investors in
the first quarter. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Sunday said the U.S.
economy is at an "inflection point" with expectations that
growth will pick up speed in the months ahead, but also risks if
a hasty reopening leads to a continued increase in coronavirus
cases. Results from big U.S. banks Goldman Sachs GS.N , JPMorgan
JPM.N and Wells Fargo WFC.N will pour in on Wednesday,
kicking off the first-quarter earnings season where investors
will look for reasons to support a stock market at all-time
highs. S&P 500 earnings are expected to have jumped 25% in the
quarter from a year ago, according to Refinitiv IBES data, the
biggest quarterly gain since 2018, when tax cuts under former
President Donald Trump drove a surge in profit growth.
At 8:31 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were down 44 points,
or 0.13%, S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were down 5.75 points, or
0.14%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were down 36.25 points, or
0.26%.
Tesla Inc TSLA.O rose 1.4% in premarket trading after
Canaccord Genuity upgraded the electric-car maker's shares to
"buy" and said the company could become "the brand" in energy
storage. U.S. shares of Alibaba BABA.N jumped 6.2% after the
ecommerce company said it does not expect any material impact
from the antitrust crackdown in China that will push it to
overhaul how it deals with merchants. Shares of Nuance Communications Inc NUAN.O surged 22.9% as
Microsoft Corp MSFT.O said it will buy the artificial
intelligence and speech technology company in a $19.7 billion
deal.