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

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

*

Tesla gains after clearing self-driving hurdles in China

*

Apple ( AAPL ) rises after report of talks with OpenAI

*

Domino's Pizza up on beating sales expectations as orders

thrive

*

Futures up: Dow 0.13%, S&P 0.27%, Nasdaq 0.44%

(Updated at 8:23 a.m. ET/ 1223 GMT)

By Shristi Achar A and Johann M Cherian

April 29 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were poised for a

higher open on Monday as Tesla and Apple ( AAPL ) led gains in megacap

companies, while investors exercised caution ahead of the

Federal Reserve's interest rate decision later in the week.

Tesla shares shot up nearly 14% premarket after the

U.S. electric vehicle maker cleared some key regulatory hurdles

that had long hindered the roll-out of its self-driving software

in China, its second-largest market.

Apple ( AAPL ) added 2.6% after a report that the iPhone

maker had renewed discussions with OpenAI about using the

startup's generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

Bernstein upgraded the stock to "outperform".

U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday, buoyed by moderate

inflation data and a rally in megacap growth stocks following

robust quarterly results from technology heavyweights Alphabet

and Microsoft.

Also offering support, Israel-Hamas peace talks in Cairo

eased fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East.

Focus will now shift to the Fed's interest rate decision due

on Wednesday, ahead of a key jobs report on Friday that could

set the tone for market direction in the near-term.

"Markets are a little fragile right now and people are

hanging on every data point and are still trying to figure out

whether the inflation numbers in the three months were a

beginning of a trend and whether GDP last month was a

significant slowdown or a one-off," said Chris Jackson, senior

vice president at UBS Wealth Management.

Money markets are pricing in just about 36 basis points

(bps) of interest rate cuts this year, down from about 150 bps

seen at the beginning of the year, according to LSEG.

At 08:23 a.m., Dow E-minis were up 51 points, or

0.13%, and S&P 500 E-minis were up 14 points, or 0.27%.

Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 79 points, or 0.44%.

Earnings season is in full swing, with adjusted blended

earnings for the first quarter estimated to grow 8.7% on a

year-over-year basis, according to LSEG data.

Domino's Pizza jumped 6.6% after topping Street

expectations for first-quarter same-store sales, as consumers in

the United States tapped into the pizza chain's spruced-up

loyalty program and other promotional offerings.

Of the 229 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported

quarterly earnings as of Friday, 77.7% surpassed analyst

expectations, compared with a long-term average of 66.7%.

Reports from 3M ( MMM ), Coca-Cola, Apple ( AAPL ),

Amazon.com ( AMZN ) and Mastercard ( MA ) are expected later in

the week.

Among other movers on Monday, Paramount Global ( PARAA )

gained 5.1% after a report that the Redstone family and Skydance

Media CEO David Ellison have made concessions to make a

potential change in control of the streaming firm more appealing

for other investors.

A fall in bitcoin prices pulled down cryptocurrency-linked

stocks in premarket trading. Crypto exchange Coinbase Global ( COIN )

and crypto miners Riot Platforms ( RIOT ) and Marathon

Digital ( MARA ) were down between 1.3% and 3.6%.

(Reporting by Shristi Achar A and Johann M Cherian in

Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)