US STOCKS-Stimulus bets set to lift Wall St as labor market rebound slows

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* Twitter jumps as usage soars
* Microsoft falls as cloud unit revenue growth slows
* Tesla rises after posting quarterly profit
* Futures up: Dow 0.07%, S&P 0.13%, Nasdaq 0.58%

(Adds quote, details; Updates prices)
By Medha Singh and Devik Jain
July 23 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were set to
open slightly higher on Thursday, as investors held out for a
new coronavirus relief package with data signaling that a
recovery in the labor market was stalling.
The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits
rose last week for the first time in nearly four months, a
report from the Labor Department showed. "The monetary taps are on and are likely remain so while
unemployment is so high and this should continue to support
markets," said Geir Lode, head of global equities, International
at Federated Hermes in London.
Leading U.S. Senate Republicans and the White House late on
Wednesday said they had hammered out agreements in principle on
portions of a potential coronavirus-response bill, as lawmakers
raced to pass legislation by the end of July. Optimism about a potential vaccine, fiscal stimulus and
improving economic data has helped the benchmark S&P 500 recoup
most of its virus-induced losses and rise 1.4% this year. The
blue-chip Dow is still down about 5% year-to-date, while the
tech-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC has climbed about 19%.
Of the 75 S&P 500 companies that have reported quarterly
results, 77.3% of them have beaten dramatically lowered profit
estimates, according to IBES Refinitiv data.
Tesla Inc TSLA.O rose 4.2% premarket after posting a
fourth consecutive quarterly profit, clearing a hurdle that
could lead to the electric carmaker's inclusion in the S&P 500
index .SPX . Twitter Inc TWTR.N jumped 6% as it reported a
bigger-than-expected yearly growth of daily users even as ad
sales sank. Microsoft Corp MSFT.O fell 1.6% as its flagship cloud
computing business Azure reported quarterly sales growth of
under 50% for the first time ever. "Many continue to believe there will be a V-shaped recovery,
although it remains too early to say whether the earnings season
will add weight to that view or not," Lode added.
California on Wednesday overtook New York as the worst-hit
state for cases as U.S. deaths from the novel coronavirus rose
by more than 1,100 for a second day in a row. At 8:44 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 20 points, or
0.07%, S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 4.25 points, or 0.13% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 62.75 points, or 0.58%.
Home builder PulteGroup Inc PHM.N jumped about 5% after
posting a higher quarterly profit. Southwest Airlines Co LUV.N dipped 0.7% as the carrier
said it was rethinking the number of flights it had planned to
add in August and September amid a high cash burn. In contrast, American Airlines Group Inc AAL.O and Alaska
Air Group Inc ALK.N gained about 0.5% after posting their
results.