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Futures up: Dow 0.37%, S&P 0.29%, Nasdaq 0.10%

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

Wednesday as most megacap growth stocks gained, while investors

awaited earnings and commentary from the central bank's

policymakers to gauge how corporate America was faring.

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

and Tesla advanced between 0.3% and 1.1% in

premarket trading.

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 4.6407%.

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 over 43% chance the Fed

could begin its easing cycle in July, as per the CME FedWatch

tool.

On the earnings front, insurer Travelers Cos ( TRV ),

medical device maker Abbott Laboratories ( ABT ) and lender U.S.

Bancorp ( USB ) are some of the companies slated to report

quarterly results before the opening bell.

At 5:46 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 139 points, or

0.37%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 15 points, or 0.29%, and

Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 18.25 points, or 0.10%.

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

around 1% each.

JB Hunt Transport Services dipped 4.9% after the

trucking firm missed Wall Street estimates for first-quarter

results.

Apparel retailer Urban Outfitters ( URBN ) fell 3.5% after

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