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United Airlines gains on upbeat Q2 profit forecast

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Travelers falls after Q1 profit miss

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Indexes up: Dow 0.39%, S&P 0.40%, Nasdaq 0.45%

(Updated at 9:41 a.m. ET/ 1341 GMT)

By Shashwat Chauhan and Shristi Achar A

April 17 (Reuters) -

Wall Street's main indexes rose on Wednesday, boosted by

megacap growth stocks and as corporate results rolled in, while

investors awaited commentary from Federal Reserve policymakers

for clues on the economy's health.

Megacap growth names such as Microsoft ( MSFT ), Alphabet

and Nvidia ( NVDA ) advanced between 0.4% and 0.8%.

The benchmark S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed

lower in the previous session, impeded by climbing Treasury

yields.

Further cushioning equities, government bond yields eased

from the multi-month highs scaled in the previous session, with

the 10-year note last at 4.6243%.

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.

Money market participants see an around 43% chance the Fed

could begin its easing cycle in July, according to the CME

FedWatch tool.

First-quarter earnings season was in full swing, with United

Airlines gaining 9.4% after it forecast

stronger-than-expected numbers in the current quarter.

Other airline stocks such as American Airlines ( AAL ),

Delta Air Lines ( DAL ) and Southwest Airlines ( LUV ) added

between 2.6% and 4.1%.

JB Hunt Transport Services shed 6.4% after the

trucking firm missed Wall Street estimates for first-quarter

results.

U.S. Bancorp ( USB ) dipped 3.2% after the lender cut its

forecast for full-year interest income and reported a 22% fall

in first-quarter profit.

Travelers dropped 6.7% after the insurance giant

missed Wall Street expectations for first-quarter core profit.

"Valuations are pretty high now, so there's not a lot of

leeway for bad news," said David Russell, global head of market

strategy at TradeStation.

"We've priced in a lot of good news and strong economic

growth might not necessarily immediately be a positive - if it

also means that we're going to be looking at higher interest

rates and what that means for valuations."

At 9:41 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average

was up 146.74 points, or 0.39%, at 37,945.71, the S&P 500

was up 20.02 points, or 0.40%, at 5,071.43, and the Nasdaq

Composite was up 71.46 points, or 0.45%, at 15,936.71.

All but one sector index traded higher, with real estate

down 0.5%, while consumer staples and

utilities led advances.

Among other stocks,

Mobileye advanced 5.1% after Reuters reported the

Israeli automotive tech company was set to ship at least 46

million new assisted-driving chips.

Eli Lilly ( LLY ) gained 2% after its weight-loss drug

helped cut the frequency of irregular breathing in patients with

obstructive sleep apnea by as much as 63% on average, across two

late-stage trials.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 5.41-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE by a 2.38-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded two new 52-week highs and five new

lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 12 new highs and 47 new lows.