*

Futures up: Dow 0.29%, S&P 500 0.24%, Nasdaq 0.21%

*

AES ( AES ) jumps on report of potential sale efforts

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UnitedHealth ( UNH ) down on report of DOJ probing co's Medicare

billing

(Updates with prices, analyst comment before the opening bell)

By Pranav Kashyap and Nikhil Sharma

July 9 (Reuters) -

Wall Street looked poised for a higher open on Wednesday, as

investors shrugged off President Donald Trump's

aggressive tariff moves and kept a close watch on

negotiations with global trade partners.

At 8:20 a.m. ET, U.S. S&P 500 E-minis were up 15.25

points, or 0.24%, Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 47.25

points, or 0.21%, and Dow E-minis were up 127 points, or

0.29%.

Trump ramped up his trade offensive on Tuesday, announcing a

50% tariff on copper and vowing to slap long-threatened levies

on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals.

This came just a day after he

jolted 14 trading partners

with a fresh wave of tariff warnings, and said that at

least

seven new notices

would drop later in the day.

The market's reaction to the latest salvo was

muted

compared with Monday's selloff - triggered by the White

House's new tariff threats against Japan and South Korea.

With tariff deadlines now pushed to August 1, investors

are pinning their hopes on negotiations to avert a full-blown

trade war.

"Markets have gotten used to how Trump negotiates, where

he goes very aggressive to begin with and then we end up at a

much lower level," said Ross Bramwell, investment strategist at

Homrich Berg.

"They will react if they see an impact of tariffs in

second-quarter earnings next week. But if earnings continue to

improve, that just gives them an even longer wait for the tariff

negotiations to get finalized."

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said

the EU is

working closely

with the Trump administration to hammer out a deal, but it

is bracing for any outcome.

Meanwhile, after last week's record closes for the S&P

500 and the Nasdaq - buoyed by a

surprisingly robust jobs report

-investors are turning their attention to Thursday's

initial jobless claims for the next pulse check on the labor

market.

The Dow was about 1.9% away from an all-time

high.

Traders will also parse through the minutes from the Federal

Reserve's June meeting, due at 2:00 p.m. ET, for any hints about

when policymakers might resume easing rates.

While a July rate reduction is almost fully ruled out, the

odds of a September cut stand at about 63%, according to CME

Group's FedWatch tool.

Amid Trump's chaotic tariff policies, the Fed has refrained

from cutting interest rates, wary of how trade uncertainty may

impact growth and inflation.

Among stocks, AES Corp ( AES ) rose 13.5% in premarket

trading after Bloomberg reported that the power provider was

exploring options, including a sale.

Health insurer UnitedHealth Group ( UNH ) slipped 1.6% after

the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Department of

Justice was investigating how the company deployed doctors and

nurses to gather diagnoses that increased its Medicare payments.

Shares of U.S. advertising firms Interpublic and

Omnicom ( OMC ) fell over 3% each, after peer WPP ( WPP )

slashed its annual profit guidance.