US STOCKS-Wall St set for higher open as Fed shake-up stokes dovish bets

By Nikhil Sharma and Pranav Kashyap

Aug 8 (Reuters) -

Wall Street's main indexes looked at a positive start on Friday as U.S. President Donald Trump's temporary pick for a Federal Reserve governor post fueled expectations of a more dovish central bank board.

At 8:21 a.m. ET, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were up 12.5 points, or 0.2%, Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were up 34 points, or 0.14%, and Dow E-minis YMcv1 were up 60 points, or 0.14%.

The president on Thursday said he will nominate Council of Economic Advisers chair Stephen Miran for a short-term Fed seat, replacing Governor Adriana Kugler following her surprise resignation last week, while the White House continues to seek a permanent addition to the Fed's governing board.

Trump has also narrowed his shortlist for a successor to Fed Chair Jerome Powell following months of criticism over Powell's refusal to cut interest rates and several retracted threats to oust him. Powell's term ends on May 15.

The White House's push to overhaul the central bank's leadership has fueled worries about its independence. At the same time, investors believe revising Fed leadership could favor looser monetary policy that aligns with Trump's agenda.

U.S. stocks lost steam on Thursday after Bloomberg News reported Fed Governor Christopher Waller was emerging as a leading contender for the chair.

"He's (Miran) widely expected to join Waller and Michelle Bowman in the dovish camp for the few meetings he will attend, with a non-negligible risk he might try to build consensus for a 50 basis point move," ING analysts send in a note.

The Nasdaq ended at a record close, buoyed by tech names after signs they could sidestep new chip tariffs by building more in the United States.

Both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were on track for their best week in over a month.

Apart from tech stocks, equities have ridden a sharp reset in rate expectations and a flurry of upbeat earnings.

The CME FedWatch tool shows traders see a 90% chance of the first rate cut of the year coming next month - and futures point to at least two cuts by year-end.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 .SPX and the Dow .DJI ended lower, weighed down by a 14.1% drop in Eli Lilly LLY.N after results from a late-stage study on its experimental GLP-1 pill fell behind that of Novo Nordisk's NOVOb.CO.

Meanwhile, U.S. tariffs on a bunch of trading partners took effect at midnight on Thursday. Tokyo's trade negotiator said Washington will amend a presidential executive order to remove overlapping tariffs on Japanese goods, terming it as oversight.

In earnings-related moves, Trade Desk TTD.O sank 31.7% in premarket trading after the ad-tech firm reported a sharp slowdown in second-quarter revenue growth.

Pinterest PINS.N tumbled 12.7% as the social media platform missed analysts' estimates for second-quarter profit.

GoDaddy GDDY.N slipped 4.8% after its second-quarter results failed to impress investors.

Expedia EXPE.O surged 17% after raising its annual forecast for gross bookings and revenue growth.

St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem is scheduled to speak later at 10:20 a.m. ET.