(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock

markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.)

*

United Airlines gains on upbeat Q2 profit forecast

*

Fed's Beige Book due at 2:00 p.m. ET

*

Futures up: Dow 0.35%, S&P 0.42%, Nasdaq 0.30%

(Updated at 7:12 a.m. ET/ 1112 GMT)

By Shashwat Chauhan and Shristi Achar A

April 17 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on

Wednesday as megacap growth stocks offered support, while a

flurry of corporate earnings and commentary from Federal Reserve

policymakers also caught investors' attention for cues on the

health of the economy.

Megacap growth names such as Microsoft ( MSFT ), Amazon.com ( AMZN )

and Tesla advanced between 0.5% and 1.1%

before the bell.

The benchmark S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed

lower in the previous session, bogged down by climbing Treasury

yields.

Government bond yields eased slightly, with the 10-year note

last at 4.6469%.

Fed Board Governor Michelle Bowman and Cleveland Fed

President Loretta Mester are scheduled to speak later in the

day.

Top U.S. central bank officials including Fed Chair Jerome

Powell refrained from providing any guidance on when interest

rates may be cut. On Tuesday, they said monetary policy needed

to be restrictive for longer, dashing investors' hopes for

meaningful reductions in borrowing costs this year.

"While stopping short of mentioning rate hikes, Chairman

Powell on Tuesday highlighted that 'the recent data have not

given greater confidence in inflation'," Achilleas

Georgolopoulos, investment analyst at forex broker XM said in a

note.

"With Vice Chairman Jefferson indirectly stating that rate

cuts could be a long way off, Bowman and Mester could also

appear hawkish today and potentially inflict further damage to

market sentiment amidst a very light US data calendar."

Money market participants see an around 43% chance the

central bank could begin its easing cycle in July, as per the

CME FedWatch tool.

Later in the day, investors will watch for the Fed's release

of the "Beige Book" report, to assess the state of the world's

largest economy.

At 7:12 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 135 points, or

0.35%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 21.25 points, or 0.42%,

and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 53 points, or 0.30%.

Among headlining stocks, United Airlines gained 5.2%

after forecasting stronger-than-expected earnings in the current

quarter.

Other airline stocks such as American Airlines ( AAL ),

Delta Air Lines ( DAL ) and Southwest Airlines ( LUV ) added

between 0.9% and 1.8%.

Mobileye

advanced 3.1% after Reuters reported the Israeli

automotive tech company was set to ship at least 46 million new

assisted-driving chips.

JB Hunt Transport Services dipped 7.9% after the

trucking firm missed Wall Street estimates for first-quarter

results.

Apparel retailer Urban Outfitters ( URBN ) fell 5.3% after

Jefferies downgraded its rating to "underperform" from "hold".