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

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

*

Honeywell ( HON ) to separate aerospace and automation businesses

*

Tapestry up after raising annual sales and profit forecast

*

Indexes up: Dow 0.04%, S&P 500 0.23%, Nasdaq 0.23%

(Updates after markets open)

By Shashwat Chauhan and Sukriti Gupta

Feb 6 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes moved

slightly higher on Thursday, as some upbeat earnings reports

from large corporates brought relief to investors awaiting U.S.

President Donald Trump's next move on trade restrictions and

other federal policies.

Drugmaker Eli Lilly rose 2.5% after the company

forecast annual profit largely above estimates, while

Coach-parent Tapestry jumped 15.3% on annual sales and

profit forecast raise.

Philip Morris International ( PM ) advanced 8.6% after the

cigarette maker posted better-than-expected quarterly results.

Shares of Honeywell ( HON ) fell 4.4% after the industrial

and aerospace giant said it would split into three independently

listed companies and forecast downbeat sales and profit for

2025.

Amazon.com ( AMZN ), which is set to report after markets

close, is under pressure to deliver on lofty cloud computing

expectations.

At 09:52 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 8.51 points, or 0.04%, to 44,892.21, the S&P 500

gained 13.84 points, or 0.23%, to 6,075.32 and the Nasdaq

Composite gained 45.93 points, or 0.23%, to 19,737.59.

Eight of the 11 S&P 500 sectors traded higher, with consumer

staples leading gains with a 0.9% rise, hitting an

over seven-week high.

Markets saw a dismal start to the week when Trump announced

sweeping trade tariffs over the weekend, but suspended the

levies on goods from Mexico and Canada on Monday for a month.

Although many uncertainties remain under Trump's new

administration, Wall Street was relieved that things were not

worse, particularly with regard to counter-tariffs against the

United States from Beijing.

"There's so many moving parts with the new administration

and new executive orders every day... it doesn't surprise me

that the market has been vacillating between optimism and

pessimism since (the start of the year)," said Peter Andersen,

founder of Andersen Capital Management.

Traders do not expect the Fed to make a move on interest

rates in its next meeting in March, but a cut is widely

anticipated in June, according to the CME's FedWatch.

Analysts have broadly estimated that Trump's tariff plans

could spur domestic inflation and likely slow the Fed's pace of

rate cuts.

Meanwhile, the number of Americans filing new applications

for unemployment benefits increased moderately last week. The

crucial January nonfarm payrolls report is due on Friday.

All three major indexes closed higher in a choppy session on

Wednesday, bringing the S&P 500 about 1% away from its

all-time high.

Qualcomm ( QCOM ) fell 4.9% as the chip designer's

executives said its lucrative patent-licensing business would

not see sales growth this year after a license agreement with

Huawei Technologies expired.

Ford Motor ( F ) lost 6.9% after the automaker forecast up

to $5.5 billion in losses in its electric-vehicle and software

operations this year.

Skyworks Solutions ( SWKS ) plunged 25.6% after the Apple

supplier forecast declines in revenue in its mobile segment and

projected current-quarter profits below estimates.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.62-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE, and by a 1.12-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 25 new 52-week highs and 5 new lows,

while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 74 new highs and 37 new

lows.

(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru;

Editing by Pooja Desai and Shinjini Ganguli)