US STOCKS-US stock futures rise on China trade de-escalation hopes; Fed on watch

May 7 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rebounded on Wednesday as hopes of a de-escalation in trade tensions with Beijing firmed, while the Federal Reserve's ongoing monetary policy meeting remained in focus.

Washington announced late on Tuesday that representatives of the two countries would meet over the weekend in Switzerland for ice-breaker trade discussions.

The meetings will follow weeks of tit-for-tat tariffs that roiled financial markets and flagged concerns about global economic growth.

Mixed signals from the world's biggest economies on the status of the negotiations left markets in a state of uncertainty, pushing many companies to shelve their forecasts. The U.S. central bank, meanwhile, adopted a wait-and-watch approach despite signs of slowing growth.

President Donald Trump's administration has said potential deals with major trading partners are underway, but markets are yet to see tangible results on that front.

At 05:31 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis YMcv1 were up 223 points, or 0.54%, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were up 31.5 points, or 0.56%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were up 113.75 points, or 0.57%.

The Federal Reserve is set to announce its policy decision on Wednesday afternoon and is widely expected to keep interest rates steady.

Traders are now roughly pricing in a rate cut by July, according to data compiled by LSEG, after a mixed bag of economic data last week signaled a slowing economy and a resilient labor market.

Comments from policymakers will now be scrutinized for clues on how they plan to approach monetary policy easing this year, amid Trump's repeated calls for lower interest rates and criticism of Fed Chair Jerome Powell, which spooked investors in April.

"The Fed chair will need to balance guiding markets about the future of monetary policy and defending the Fed from pressure from the administration," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading platform XTB.

"A hawkish lean from the Fed could spook markets and remind us that the recent market rally was a correction in a downtrend," Brooks said, adding that markets were expecting a hawkish lean from Powell.

Wall Street ended lower for the second straight session on Tuesday after comments from the administration failed to provide clarity on the trade front.

The S&P 500 is more than 8% away from its record high notched in February, even though all indexes have recouped declines logged since Trump's "Liberation Day" reciprocal tariffs announcement on April 2.

Corporate earnings will remain on the radar, with Uber UBER.N and Walt Disney DIS.N among companies scheduled to report results before markets open.

Advanced Micro Devices AMD.O was up 1.8% in premarket trading after the chipmaker forecast revenue for the second quarter above Wall Street estimates.

Arista Networks ANET.N slipped 5.3% after its quarterly report, while Marvell Technology MRVL.O fell 4.2% after narrowing its forecast for the first quarter of 2026 and postponing its investor day.