US STOCKS-Wall St set to open higher on Apple bounce; Fed decision awaited

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* Apple shares jump on upbeat results, forecast
* Modest drop in U.S. borrowing costs widely expected
* Futures up: Dow 0.29%, S&P 500 0.23%, Nasdaq 0.43%

(Updates prices, adds comments)
By Shreyashi Sanyal
July 31 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were set to open higher on
Wednesday, as concerns over the impact of the U.S.-China trade
war eased after Apple's upbeat earnings report, while investors
awaited an almost certain cut in interest rates by the Federal
Reserve.
Shares of the iPhone maker AAPL.O were up about 4% in
premarket trading after the company beat quarterly profit and
revenue expectations, and forecast strong sales for the current
quarter. Apple also said its greater China sales dipped only
slightly. "Multinational companies have been hit by the trade war, but
with a positive on Apple, it does take some of fears away from
the impact of the dispute," said Peter Cardillo, chief market
economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New York.
The U.S.-China trade talks concluded on Wednesday without
any major breakthrough, a day after global stocks lost footing
as President Donald Trump warned Beijing against trying to wait
out his first term in office to finalize a deal.
The Chinese commerce ministry said the two sides will meet
again in the United States in September. Meanwhile, market participants are expecting a
quarter-percentage-point cut in borrowing costs by the U.S.
central bank. All eyes will now be on Fed Chairman Jerome
Powell, who is set to hold a news conference after the rates
decision at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT), to explain why the move was
necessary and what comes next.
Investors are looking at Powell to appropriately justify his
move by pointing to global growth being hurt by the U.S.-China
trade war, Cardillo said.
Wall Street's main indexes have had a strong run since a
steep selloff in May, with the S&P 500 index .SPX now up 20%
for the year on hopes that a modest rate cut would help combat
slowing growth and boost tame inflation.
At 8:38 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 79 points, or
0.29%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 7 points, or 0.23% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 34.25 points, or 0.43%.
Electronic Arts Inc EA.O jumped 5.9% after the video game
publisher posted quarterly revenue beat, riding on the continued
success of its battle royale game "Apex Legends". Advanced Micro Devices Inc AMD.O slipped 4.3% after it
forecast third-quarter revenue below Wall Street estimates, hit
by lower demand for its chips used in gaming consoles.
Its forecast weighed on Micron Technology MU.O , Nvidia
Corp NVDA.O and Intel Corp INTC.O , which dropped between
0.3% and 1.5%.
General Electric Co's GE.N shares rose 3.4% after the
industrial conglomerate said Chief Financial Officer Jamie
Miller was stepping down. The company also said it swung back to
a financial loss during the second quarter. The ADP National Employment Report, often considered a
precursor to the Labor Department's more comprehensive monthly
non-farm payrolls data, showed private employers added 156,000
jobs in July, above economists' expectations and supporting the
view of a firm domestic labor market. The Labor Department's jobs report for the month of July is
due on Friday.