* Futures up: Dow 0.10%, S&P 500 0.19%, Nasdaq 0.29%

* Investors cautious despite Iran-US talks report

* Oil market stabilization efforts by Trump provide some

relief

* Tech stocks rebound, Fed policy outlook complicated by

conflict

(Updates prices throughout, adds analyst comment)

By Johann M Cherian and Ragini Mathur

March 4 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged

higher on Wednesday as investors weighed a report signaling

efforts to end the five-day Middle East conflictand took heart

from President Donald Trump's efforts to stabilize oil markets.

Futures turned higher after a New York Times report said

Iranian intelligence operatives indirectly reached out to the

CIA a day after the attacks, but U.S. officials remain skeptical

that either the Trump administration or Iran is prepared for a

near-term de-escalation.

Travel stocks that are sensitive to oil prices edged higher

after bearing the brunt of losses earlier this week. American

Airlines added 0.7% in premarket trading, while Carnival

and Norwegian Cruise climbed over 0.3% each.

Oil and gas producers such as Occidental and

NextDecade ( NEXT ) lost more than 2%.

"It's the kind of headline that everyone wants to see,

because the idea that this would drag on for four or five weeks,

at least in the U.S. estimation is not conducive to markets,"

said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG.

"But you've got to be very cautious about believing it."

Tehran's threat to attack vessels navigating the strategic

Strait of Hormuz pushed up shipping costs and worries are that

crude prices could touch a worrying $100 a barrel. Several

Middle Eastern countries have also temporarily halted oil and

gas production.

However, President Trump's announcements of a U.S. Naval

escort for oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz and

political risk insurance brought some relief.

New York Fed President John Williams also said on Tuesday the

U.S. economy has proved to be resilient to energy price shocks.

The U.S. oil-prices benchmark was flat at $75 having

gained 11.6% this week.

At 06:42 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 48 points,

or 0.10%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 13 points, or 0.19%.

Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 71.75 points, or 0.29%.

The CBOE volatility index, also known as Wall Street's fear

gauge dropped 0.5 points to 23.07 after four straight

days of gains, while futures tracking the rate-sensitive Russell

2000 index gained 0.4%.

After two volatile sessions for Wall Street, investors also

scooped up technology stocks that sold off heavily in February.

Nvidia ( NVDA ) added 1.2% and other chip stocks such as Sandisk ( SNDK )

and Applied Digital ( APLD ) were up more than 4% each.

Policymakers have acknowledged that the conflict will complicate

the Federal Reserve's monetary policy outlook and Goldman Sachs ( GS )

CEO David Solomon said financial markets may take a while

to fully digest the long-term repercussions.

Investors have pushed back expectations for a 25-basis-point

interest rate cut to September from July, pricing in potential

costs related to energy and U.S. tariffs that threaten to fuel

inflation pressures.

Traditional safe-havens such as precious metals gained,

lifting miners such as Endeavour Silver up 3.5% and Gold

Fields up 2.9%.

Crypto stocks such as Strategy and Coinbase

added 6.8% and 5.5%, respectively, tracking a 4.4% jump

in bitcoin.

Drugmaker Moderna added 6.9% after agreeing to pay

up to $2.25 billion to settle a long-running legal fight over a

COVID-19 vaccine patent.

The Fed's Beige Book, a district-by-district snapshot of

economic conditions, is due later in the day, alongside ADP

employment figures and the Institute for Supply Management

business activity report for February.

(Reporting by Johann M Cherian, Ragini Mathur and Pranav

Kashyap in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and

Devika Syamnath)