US STOCKS-Wall St set to open higher after rally on Powell's dovish remarks

* Insurers rise on report drug rebate proposal dropped
* Delta Air Lines gains on strong qtrly profit, lifts rivals
* CPI rises by most in nearly 1-1/2 years in June
* Fed's Powell to resume two-day testimony at 10:00 a.m. ET
* Futures rise: Dow 0.32%, S&P 0.15%, Nasdaq 0.12%

(Adds comment, details; Updates prices)
By Medha Singh
July 11 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were set to open higher on
Thursday, with healthcare shares in focus, a day after Wall
Street's main indexes touched new highs as comments from Federal
Reserve chairman Jerome Powell cemented the case for an interest
rate cut this month.
Stock futures pared some gains after a Labor Department
report showed U.S. underlying consumer prices increased by the
most in nearly 1-1/2 years in June. The consumer price index (CPI), excluding the volatile food
and energy components, rose 0.3% in June. The overall CPI edged
up 0.1%, in line with May's rise, compared with expectations of
the index remaining unchanged.
"It's a little higher than we thought but it seems like it's
going to take a lot more than a monthly data point to push
Powell away from his dovish stance," said Mike Loewengart, vice
president, investment strategy at E*TRADE Financial Corp.
"The Fed has pretty much made it clear that the negatives of
a cooling economy and ongoing trade tensions outweigh the
positives of a Goldilocks inflation number and last week's solid
jobs read."
In his 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 briefly breached the 3,000 point mark for the first time on
Wednesday. The blue-chip Dow has risen 15%, while the tech-laden
Nasdaq has gained 24%.
Shares of health insurers such as UnitedHealth Group Inc
UNH.N , Cigna Corp CI.N and drug distributors like McKesson
Corp MCK.N gained between 9.5% and 3.5% premarket after a
report that the Trump administration has withdrawn its proposal
to eliminate rebates from government drug plans. The top ten gainers among the S&P 500 companies trading
premarket were healthcare stocks.
At 8:48 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 85 points, or
0.32%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 4.5 points, or 0.15% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 9.5 points, or 0.12%.
Delta Air Lines Inc DAL.N rose 1.9% 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 0.8%.