US STOCKS-Wall St set to open higher as oil prices ease, Fed meeting in focus

By Sruthi Shankar and Sukriti Gupta

June 16 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Monday as easing oil prices supported sentiment despite ongoing attacks between Israel and Iran, while investors focused on the upcoming Federal Reserve meeting.

Wall Street indexes shed more than 1% on Friday as oil prices surged 7% after Israel and Iran traded air strikes, feeding investor worries that the combat could widely disrupt oil exports from the Middle East.

Leaders from the Group of Seven countries began annual talks on Monday. The dangers of further escalation in the Israel-Iran conflict loomed over the meeting, with U.S. President Donald Trump expressing hope on Sunday that a deal could be done, but no signs of the fighting abating on the fourth day of war.

Crude prices LCOc1, CLc1 pulled back from January highs as the renewed military strikes over the weekend left oil production and export facilities unaffected, offering some respite to investors worried about a resurgence in inflation.

"The strikes have continued, but it doesn't seem like the oil markets and shipping lanes have been disrupted. Markets are just calming down a little bit from that big surprise on Friday," said David Miller, chief investment officer at Catalyst Funds.

The surge in oil prices comes ahead of the Fed's monetary policy decision on Wednesday, when policymakers are widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged.

Investors will focus on Fed Chair Jerome Powell's comments as well as the central bank's updated projections for monetary policy and the economy for clues on potential rate cuts later this year.

Money market moves show traders pricing in about 47 basis points of rate cuts by the end of 2025, with a 56% chance of a 25-bps rate cut in September, according to CME Group's Fedwatch tool.

Key data this week includes monthly retail sales, import prices and weekly jobless claims.

At 08:33 a.m. ET (1233 GMT), S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 39.25 points, or 0.66%, Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 climbed 172.75 points, or 0.8%, and Dow e-minis YMcv1 rose 261 points, or 0.62%.

Shares of telecom companies T-Mobile US TMUS.O, AT&T T.N and Verizon VZ.N dipped in premarket trading after Trump Organization launched a self-branded mobile network, dubbed Trump Mobile.

Meanwhile, UPS UPS.N and FedEx FDX.N edged up about 1% after Trump Mobile named the companies as shipping partners.

U.S.-listed shares of gold miners fell, tracking a fall in bullion prices . Newmont NEM.N and Harmony Gold HMY.N fell more than 1% each.

Shares of Sarepta Therapeutics SRPT.O plunged 36% after the company disclosed a second case of patient death due to acute liver failure after receiving its gene therapy for a rare form of muscular dystrophy.

U.S. Steel X.N rose 5% after Trump approved Nippon Steel's 5401.T $14.9 billion bid for the company.

Cisco CSCO.O gained 2% after Deutsche Bank upgraded the communications equipment maker to "buy" from "hold".