July 26 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures extended

gains on Friday after in-line U.S. inflation data kept bets for

an interest-rate cut by September intact.

The Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index, the

U.S. Federal Reserve's preferred inflation metric, rose 0.1% on

a monthly basis in June and 2.5% annually, both as expected.

Core PCE, which excludes the volatile food and energy

components, increased 0.2% on a monthly basis, slightly above

forecasts for a 0.1% rise. It rose 2.6% on an annual basis.

At 8:34 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 243 points,

or 0.6%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 42.5 points, or 0.78%,

and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 203 points, or 1.07%.