US STOCKS-Wall Street set for higher open after Israel-Iran ceasefire

By Kanchana Chakravarty and Nikhil Sharma

June 24 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were on track for a higher open on Tuesday as President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, calming investor nerves after the 12-day conflict hurt global risk assets and fanned inflation concerns.

Investors also assessed Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's comments reiterating the central bank's wait-and-watch approach to interest rates as tariff-driven price pressures become evident.

"There's no question that Trump has put pressure to cut interest rates. But I don't think Powell is going to budge," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities.

The Israel-Iran ceasefire news sent oil prices LCOc1 to a two-week low as supply concerns triggered by the Middle East conflict eased. U.S. energy stocks followed crude prices lower before the bell, with Chevron CVX.N and Exxon XOM.N down more than 1% each.

Defense stocks Lockheed Martin LMT.N and RTX Corp RTX.N fell 1% and 1.2%, respectively.

Trump's call for a truce marked a sharp turnaround after the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend and Iran retaliated by firing missiles at a U.S. base in Qatar.

Hours after the ceasefire declaration, however, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said Iranian missiles were fired in violation of the agreement and he had ordered the military to strike Tehran in response. Trump accused both countries of violating the ceasefire.

Still, optimism around the ceasefire has kept equities supported so far.

At 08:56 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis YMcv1 were up 268 points, or 0.62%, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were up 41.25 points, or 0.68%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were up 208.75 points, or 0.95%

The benchmark S&P 500 .SPX index remains about 2% below its all-time highs.

Powell has been on the receiving end of Trump's criticisms for not cutting interest rates, with the President hinting at firing the top Fed policymaker or naming a successor soon.

Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic told Reuters the central bank doesn't need to cut interest rates soon, as companies plan to raise prices due to higher import taxes and the job market is still strong.

In contrast, Fed Vice Chair Michelle Bowman on Monday backed the resumption of the policy easing cycle in July.

Market participants are pricing in at least two 25-basis point rate reductions before year-end, with the first cut seen in September. 0#FEDWATCH

Several central bank officials, including Fed Board Governor Michael Barr and Fed Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari, are also scheduled to speak later in the day.

Consumer confidence data for June is due at 10:00 a.m. ET.

Focus later this week will be on the Commerce Department's final take on first-quarter GDP and its Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) data.

Megacap and growth stocks were trading higher, with Tesla TSLA.O shares leading gains, up nearly 2%. Google-parent Alphabet GOOGL.O rose 1.2% while Amazon.com AMZN.O was up 1.6%.

Shares of crypto companies rose after bitcoin hit a one-week high. Coinbase Global COIN.O was up 1% and Strategy MSTR.O advanced 1.6%.

Package delivery firm FedEx FDX.N was up nearly 1.2% ahead of quarterly results due after the closing bell.