US STOCKS-Wall St set for higher open in countdown to Trump presidency

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Updates before markets open

By Johann M Cherian and Sukriti Gupta

Jan 17 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were on track to open higher on Friday, with the S&P 500 and the Dow looking set to log their biggest weekly gains since November, as investors anticipate a wave of policy changes under the incoming Trump administration.

At 08:31 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis 1YMcv1 were up 243 points, or 0.56%, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were up 39.25 points, or 0.66%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were up 220.25 points, or 1.04%.

Better-than-expected earnings from major banks and signs that inflation is cooling have prompted risk-taking on Wall Street this week, putting the benchmark S&P 500 .SPX and the blue-chip Dow .DJI on track for their steepest weekly rises since the U.S. election week.

The S&P 500 banking index .SPXBK and regional banks .KRX have outperformed the main indexes this week, logging advances of about 5.8% and 6.4%, respectively.

A dip in yields on longer-dated bonds that had touched more than 10-month highs earlier in the week also boosted the sentiment. Yield on the benchmark 10-year note US10YT=RR is now at a more than one-week low of 4.57%. US/

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to take over the White House on Monday and investors will be on edge for any insights into his plans on tax cuts, tariffs, regulations and immigration at his inauguration speech.

The S&P 500 has gained nearly 3% to date since Election Day, while the dollar =USD has jumped about 5%.

However, there are also concerns that his plans on tariffs and immigration could spark a trade war and fresh price pressures, which could force the Federal Reserve to stave off further monetary policy easing.

"On our math, (a stronger dollar) could cut first-quarter earnings growth by about 1.5 percentage points," analysts at UBS said.

"However, we believe that part of the strong dollar risks have already been priced in and that the tariff impact is unlikely to be strong enough to derail healthy earnings growth."

Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack said inflation remains a problem, as recent data has pointed to a resilient economy.

According to data compiled by LSEG, traders are expecting the central bank to leave interest rates on hold at its meeting later this month and see the first cut coming in June. They had all but priced out any rate cuts for 2025 earlier in the week.

Before markets open, investors will assess data on industrial production for the month of December that could help gauge the health of the world's largest economy.

Eyes are also on developments around a ceasefire deal in the Middle East conflict, with the Israeli cabinet due to give final approval, following concerns the accord may be delayed.

Nvidia NVDA.O gained 1.5% and Broadcom AVGO.O rose 2% after Barclays raised its price targets on the stocks.

SLB SLB.N rose 2.2% after the oilfield services provider beat estimates for fourth-quarter profit, benefiting from higher demand for its drilling equipment and technology in North America and international markets.

Truist Financial TFC.N rose 2.6% after reporting a rise in fourth-quarter profit as it earned more in interest payments.

(Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

((johann.mcherian@thomsonreuters.com;))