US STOCKS-Wall St set to open higher on upbeat earnings, GDP data

(For a live blog on the U.S. stock market, click LIVE/ or
type LIVE/ in a news window.)
* U.S. Q2 GDP growth slows to 2.1%, but tops estimates
* Twitter gains after Q2 revenue beat
* Amazon falls after quarterly profit miss
* Alphabet surges on upbeat Q2 results
* Futures up: Dow 0.28%, S&P 0.27%, Nasdaq 0.30%

(Changes comments, updates prices)
By Amy Caren Daniel
July 26 (Reuters) - Wall Street was set to open higher on
Friday, lifted by robust earnings from Google-owner Alphabet and
Intel, and data that showed the U.S. economy slowed lesser than
expected in the second quarter.
The Commerce Department said GDP increased at a 2.1%
annualized rate in the second quarter, higher than a 1.8% rate
that economists polled by Reuters forecast. "This is just what the market needed, not so soft that the
economy is slowing down precipitously and not so strong that the
Fed is going to reverse course," said Art Hogan, chief market
strategist at National Securities in New York.
"We expected bad earnings and bad GDP numbers, but an upside
on both is something markets are going to embrace today."
Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O jumped 8.5% after its quarterly
results beat estimates, easing investor concerns about growth
challenges faced by its Google advertising business.
Intel Corp INTC.O gained 4.2% after the chipmaker gave an
upbeat current-quarter forecast and raised its full-year revenue
guidance, allaying concerns about a global chip slowdown and
curbs on U.S. sales to China's Huawei Technologies Co HWT.UL .
The S&P 500 posted its first loss of the week on Wednesday
after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi adopted a
less dovish tone than investors had anticipated, even though he
all but pledged to ease policy further. Hopes that the Fed will cut rates by at least 25 basis
points at its policy meeting at the end of this month have
powered a solid run in stocks this month, lifting the main
indexes to record highs.
At 8:53 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 75 points, or
0.28%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 8 points, or 0.27% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 24 points, or 0.3%.
Two weeks into the second-quarter earnings season, about 75%
of the 185 S&P 500 companies that have reported so far have
topped profit estimates, according to Refinitiv data.
Among other stocks, Twitter Inc TWTR.N jumped 6.6% after
it posted better-than-expected second-quarter revenue and an
uptick in daily users who see advertisements on the site.
Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O fell 1.5% after the online retailer
reported its first profit miss in two years and said income
would slump in the current quarter.