US STOCKS-Wall St headed for higher open with focus on earnings, Fed meeting

By Nikhil Sharma and Pranav Kashyap

July 29 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were poised for a higher open on Tuesday as investors assessed a plethora of earnings releases from top U.S. companies and looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's upcoming two-day monetary policy meeting.

At 8:20 a.m. ET, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were up 14.5 points, or 0.23%, Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were up 105.75 points, or 0.45%, and Dow E-minis YMcv1 were up 69 points, or 0.15%.

A higher open for the Dow could help it reach a new record high, with the index currently about 200 points below its peak. Its key components, UnitedHealth UNH.N and Boeing BA.N, reported mixed quarterly results.

Health insurer UnitedHealth fell about 1% in premarket trading following a disappointing profit forecast, while Boeing gained 2% thanks to a smaller second-quarter loss.

Meanwhile, United Parcel Service UPS.N became the latest victim of U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs, with the stock falling 3% after the company reported a lower-than-expected second-quarter profit.

On Monday, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq scored fresh record closes in volatile trading, aided by a U.S.-EU trade deal that halved tariffs to 15% and boosted expectations of more agreements ahead of Trump's looming August 1 deadline.

The President has also floated a potential "world tariff" of 15-20% for non-negotiating countries.

Key negotiations between the U.S. and China entered their second day in Stockholm, as the two leading economies aim to iron out their trade conflict and possibly produce a 90-day extension to the tariff truce brokered in May.

Earnings from tech heavyweights Meta META.O, Microsoft MSFT.O, Amazon AMZN.O and Apple AAPL.O are scheduled for later this week, which could test Wall Street's record run.

"The easiest gains (on Wall St) have now happened, and any further rise is likely to happen much more slowly," said Thomas Mathews, head of Markets at Capital Economics.

The continuation of the rally may depend heavily on Big Tech profits "continuing to paint a positive picture," he said.

Spotify SPOT.N tumbled 5.4% after the company forecast third-quarter profit below estimates.

The U.S. central bank is set to begin its two-day policy meeting later in the day. While the Fed is expected to leave rates unchanged on Wednesday, traders will closely analyze policymakers' remarks to gauge the timing of future moves.

According to the CME FedWatch tool, markets are pricing in about a 63% chance of a rate cut in September.

The meeting comes amid the White House's campaign on the central bank to lower borrowing costs, including Trump's persistent criticism of Fed Chair Jerome Powell and occasional suggestions to remove him from his position.

At 10:00 a.m. ET, investors will analyze the U.S. Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) to test the strength of the labor market, which has shown resilience in recent weeks despite signs of inflation from tariffs.

The JOLTS report will set the stage for the ADP private payrolls data on Wednesday, weekly jobless claims on Thursday, and non-farm payrolls on Friday.

The consumer confidence report is also due for the day.

Among other earnings-related moves, Cadence Design CDNS.O rose 8.3% in premarket trading after the chip design software provider raised its annual sales and profit forecast.