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Tesla rises after co to hike Model Y prices in Europe

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Alphabet up on report of talks to build Gemini AI into

iPhone

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Nasdaq says issues impacting connectivity resolved

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Futures: S&P up 0.38%, Nasdaq up 0.76%, Dow down 0.08%

(Updated at 7:00 a.m. ET/1100 GMT)

By Bansari Mayur Kamdar and Shashwat Chauhan

March 18 (Reuters) -

Futures for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq gained on Monday

ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's meeting this week, where the

central bank is expected to keep borrowing costs steady and

provide cues on its monetary policy path for the year.

Stronger-than-expected

inflation

figures last week have prompted investors to rethink when

and by how much policymakers will lower rates this year, with

traders pulling back bets of a June rate cut to around 59% from

71% last Monday, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.

Nevertheless, Wall Street, led by optimism around

artificial intelligence (AI), hit fresh all-time highs in March,

before pulling back some gains last week.

A hawkish tilt by the Fed in its policy meeting that

concludes on Wednesday could further pressure the high-flying

indexes.

"While the recent pullback in tech stocks may follow

fears that the market has run too far and portfolios are too

concentrated, we believe investors can find compelling

diversification opportunities through the next AI leaders," said

Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth

Management.

Investors eyed chipmaker Nvidia's ( NVDA ) GTC developer

conference from March 18 to 21, which will be parsed for

AI-related announcements. Shares of the AI giant rose 2.3% in

premarket trading.

Peers Micron Technology ( MU ) and Advanced Micro

Devices ( AMD ) added 2.8% and 1.3%, respectively.

Exchange operator Nasdaq said it has resolved an

issue related to connectivity and stock orders after more than

two hours.

At 7:00 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were down 30

points, or 0.08%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 19.5 points,

or 0.38%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 136.5 points,

or 0.76%.

Most megacap growth and technology shares also advanced

in trading before the bell.

Alphabet

gained 4.4% after a media report that Apple ( AAPL )

is in talks to build Google's Gemini AI engine into the

iPhone.

Tesla

rose 2.8% after the electric carmaker said it

would increase the price of its Model Y EVs in some European

countries on March 22, by approximately 2,000 euros ($2,177) or

its equivalent in local currencies.

U.S.-listed shares of

Xpeng

climbed 6.2% on the company's plans to launch a

cheaper EV brand amid fierce price competition.

Boeing ( BA ) shed 1.0% after a media report that a federal

grand jury in Seattle issued a subpoena to the planemaker over

the Jan. 5 midair blowout of a Boeing ( BA ) door plug on an Alaska

Airlines flight.