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Futures up: Dow 0.41%, S&P 500 0.41%, Nasdaq 0.57%

Jan 30 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures advanced on

Thursday, a day after the central bank left borrowing costs

unchanged, driven by post-earnings gains in megacaps including

Meta and Tesla, with more corporate results to come through the

week.

Meta Platforms ( META ) rose 2.4% in premarket trading after

beating estimates for fourth-quarter revenue, but predicted that

sales in the current first quarter might miss estimates.

Tesla added 2.2% after saying it was on track to

roll out new, cheaper EV models in the first half of 2025. It

also said it would start testing a paid autonomous car service

in June, overshadowing quarterly results that fell short of

expectations.

"Tesla investors are fueled by optimism around Full

Self-Driving and the upcoming affordable model - two key

catalysts that could drive Tesla's next leg of growth," said

Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

Meanwhile, Microsoft ( MSFT ) shed 3.9% after forecasting

disappointing growth in its cloud computing business.

An American Airlines ( AAL ) regional passenger jet with 64

people on board collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter

and crashed into the Potomac River near Reagan Washington

National Airport on Wednesday, with many feared dead. Shares of

the carrier were down 2.5%.

Cigna Group ( CI ), Mastercard ( MA ), Comcast ( CMCSA ) and

Caterpillar are among other major companies expected to

report quarterly earnings before the bell.

Apple ( AAPL ) and Intel ( INTC ) are scheduled to report

after markets close.

At 05:06 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 182 points,

or 0.41%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 25 points, or 0.41%,

and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 123 points, or 0.57%.

The U.S. Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on

Wednesday, removing language acknowledging easing inflation from

its latest policy meeting statement. Chair Jerome Powell said

there would be no rush to cut rates again until inflation and

jobs data made it appropriate.

"We think the length of the (Fed's) policy hold will be set

largely by how long tariff uncertainty persists," BNP Paribas

economists said in a note.

"This could take a while, perhaps several months, as the

administration negotiates with trade partners and moves through

the administrative process to document and impose tariffs."

A fourth-quarter GDP reading is scheduled to be released

before markets open on Thursday, while December's personal

consumption expenditures price index data is expected on Friday.

Wall Street's main indexes closed lower on Wednesday but

were well shy of session lows and still below levels seen at the

end of the previous week as markets assessed Powell's comments.

Markets were rocked earlier this week by the meteoric rise

of Chinese company DeepSeek's AI models, which posed stiff

competition to leading U.S. artificial-intelligence model

providers and sparked worries of a price war.

Among other early movers, IBM ( IBM ) jumped 7.6% after the

company surpassed fourth-quarter profit expectations, while

ServiceNow ( NOW ) lost 9.2% after forecasting annual

subscription revenue below Wall Street estimates.