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Tesla gains after clearing self-driving hurdles in China

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Apple ( AAPL ) rises after report of talks with OpenAI

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Domino's Pizza up on beating sales expectations as orders

thrive

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Futures up: Dow 0.1%, S&P 0.1%, Nasdaq 0.3%

(Updated at 07:08 a.m. ET/ 1108 GMT)

By Shristi Achar A and Johann M Cherian

April 29 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged

higher 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 jumped 9.3% premarket after the

electric vehicle maker cleared some key regulatory hurdles that

had long hindered it from rolling out its self-driving software

in China, the U.S. automaker's second-largest market.

Apple ( AAPL ) added 2% 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.

"We are not expecting a lot from the Fed this week. Powell

would likely reiterate his latest comments that the recent set

of strong data would delay rate cuts," Mohit Kumar, chief

economist Europe at Jefferies, said in a note.

"Focus would also be on reducing the pace of (quantitative

tightening)."

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 07:08 a.m., Dow E-minis were up 33 points, or

0.11%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 8.25 points, or 0.16%,

and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 48 points, or 0.27%.

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 5% 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% 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.

Cryptocurrency-linked stocks fell premarket, tracking lower

bitcoin prices. Crypto exchange Coinbase Global ( COIN ) and

crypto miners Riot Platforms ( RIOT ) and Marathon Digital ( MARA )

were down between 2.4% and 3.6%.

(Reporting by Shristi Achar A and Johann in Bengaluru; Editing

by Devika Syamnath)