US STOCKS-Wall St set for stronger open on Home Depot results

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* Home Depot set to hit record high
* S&P 500 to open few points away from record level
* Futures up: Dow 0.20%, S&P 0.16%, Nasdaq 0.34%

(Adds comment, details, updates prices)
By Ambar Warrick
Aug 18 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were set to
extend gains on Tuesday as strong results from major retailers
underscored the strength of the U.S. consumer during the
coronavirus pandemic.
Shares of Home Depot Inc HD.N rose 1% in premarket trade
after the home improvement chain posted quarterly same-store
sales well above expectations.
Walmart Inc WMT.N reported record growth in online sales
but its shares, which hit a record high in the previous session,
slipped 0.6%. Home Depot's smaller rival Lowe's Cos Inc LOW.N and
supermarket operator Target Corp TGT.N rose ahead of their
quarterly earnings on Wednesday.
"The broader implication of what you are seeing in spending
patterns is that market breadth will improve from here on," said
Anik Sen, global head of equity at PineBridge Investments in New
York.
Earnings from retailers this week are expected to close out
a better-than-feared earnings season, which has been one of the
triggers for a recent rally.
While Wall Street has virtually recouped all of its
pandemic-driven losses, with the S&P 500 hovering near record
highs, the U.S. economy is yet to see such a recovery.
Minutes from the Federal Reserve's recent meeting, due on
Wednesday, may provide some insight into how the central bank
sees an economic recovery playing out.
"The biggest driver of the market right now is that central
banks continue to be extremely supportive from a policy
standpoint. The issue is still that large parts of the economy
are fragile," PineBridge Investments' Sen said.
At 8:17 a.m. ET, S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 5.25
points, or 0.16%, after hitting an intraday high of 3,388.75.
At current levels, the S&P 500 was set to open about 4 points
below a record intraday high.
Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 56 points, or 0.2%, and Nasdaq
100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 38 points, or 0.34%.
Shares of department store chain Kohl's Corp KSS.N fell 4%
despite beating estimates for quarterly net sales. Shares of Oracle Corp ORCL.N rose 2.8% following a report
that the company had held preliminary talks with TikTok's
Chinese owner, ByteDance, and was seriously considering buying
the app's operations in the United States.