(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock

markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.)

*

Salesforce ( CRM ) gains after abandoning talks to buy Informatica ( INFA )

*

Tesla down on prices cuts in China, Germany, around globe

*

Futures up: Dow 0.50%, S&P 0.43%, Nasdaq 0.44%

(Updated at 8:26 a.m. ET/1226 GMT)

By Shristi Achar A and Shashwat Chauhan

April 22 (Reuters) -

U.S. stocks were poised to open higher on Monday after steep

losses in the previous session as easing Middle East tensions

buoyed risk appetite, while investors looked ahead to an

action-packed week with major tech earnings and a key inflation

print.

The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 ended lower on

Friday as Netflix ( NFLX ) shares weighed after a dour quarterly

earnings report, with both the indexes suffering six straight

sessions of declines last week, their longest since October

2022.

Some megacap growth stocks edged higher in premarket

trading, with Meta Platforms ( META ), Amazon.com ( AMZN ) and

Apple ( AAPL ) up between 0.5% and 1.0%.

Nvidia ( NVDA ) inched up 0.7%, rebounding from a 10% drop

in the last session.

"The market got over-sold on Friday because of Netflix ( NFLX )

earnings, it was primarily a tech-driven decline," said Jay

Hatfield, CEO and portfolio manager at InfraCap.

"We're headed into megacap earnings and so people are

starting to realize that Netflix ( NFLX ) is not very indicative of

what's going to happen with other megacap stocks."

Tesla, Meta Platforms ( META ), Alphabet and Microsoft ( MSFT )

will be in focus this week as the companies gear up to

deliver their quarterly numbers, whose performance could further

test the rally in U.S. stocks.

The risk-on mode was also supported by signs of easing

tensions in the Middle East, as Iran's foreign minister said on

Friday Tehran was investigating an overnight attack, adding that

so far a link to Israel had not been proven as he downplayed the

strike.

Equities have sold-off recently as market participants

readjust their interest rate cut expectations from the U.S.

Federal Reserve after a string of strong economic data signaling

persistent inflationary pressures.

Money markets are now pricing in just about 38 basis points

(bps) of rate cuts this year, down from about 150 bps seen at

the beginning of the year, according to LSEG data.

On the docket this week would be the price consumption

expenditure (PCE) index reading for March -- the Fed's preferred

inflation gauge - to further ascertain the monetary policy

trajectory.

Fed policymakers were in a media blackout ahead of their

latest policy meeting on May 1.

At 8:26 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 192 points, or

0.5%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 21.75 points, or 0.43%,

and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 75.5 points, or 0.44%.

Among single stocks, Tesla fell 4.1% before the bell as the

electric vehicle maker cut prices in a number of its major

markets, including China and Germany, following price reductions

in the United States.

Salesforce ( CRM ) rose 3.3% after the business software

maker backed away from its talks to acquire data-management

software firm Informatica ( INFA ) after the two companies could

not agree on terms. Informatica's ( INFA ) shares were down 5.1%.

Verizon Communications ( VZ ) added 1.8% after the telecom

firm said it lost fewer-than-expected wireless subscribers in

the first quarter.