US STOCKS-S&P 500, Dow set to open flat as Iran tensions ease

* Micron gains on bullish brokerage comment
* Microchip provides upbeat sales outlook
* Apache shares jump on major oil discovery
* Futures: Dow, S&P off 0.05%, Nasdaq up 0.17%

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By Sruthi Shankar and Susan Mathew
Jan 7 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Dow were on track to
open largely flat on Tuesday in the absence of fresh escalation
in the standoff between the United States and Iran, while the
Nasdaq was set to get a boost from positive corporate updates
from chipmakers.
The killing of a top Iranian general last week by the United
States jolted markets and sent investors scurrying for
safe-haven assets. However, the three main Wall Street indexes
rebounded on Monday as many reassessed the situation as having a
limited impact on financial markets.
"People are nervous about a possible retaliation from Iran.
But because nothing happened right away, it gives people a
little bit of confidence to step back into the market," said
Robert Pavlik, chief investment strategist and senior portfolio
manager at SlateStone Wealth LLC in New York.
Helping the tech-heavy Nasdaq futures outperform on Tuesday
was Micron Technology Inc MU.O , which rose 3.4% after Cowen &
Co upgraded the chipmaker to "outperform" on an
earlier-than-expected recovery in the memory market.
The brokerage also raised its rating on hard-disk maker
Western Digital Corp WDC.O to "outperform". Its shares rose
3.2%.
Another bright spot in the semiconductor space was Microchip
Technology MCHP.O , which rose 3.7% after raising the mid-point
of its sales forecast for the third quarter.
At 8:47 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMc1 were down 17 points, or
0.06%. S&P 500 e-minis ESc1 were down 1.75 points, or 0.05%
and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQc1 were up 15.25 points, or 0.17%.
Investors will be closely tracking a slew of economic data
later in the day, including U.S. factory goods orders for
November and the Institute for Supply Management's services
sector activity index for December. After the index slowed to
53.9 points in November, economists expect it to stabilize at
54.5 points in the last month.
Market participants are also awaiting the fourth-quarter
reporting season, which begins in earnest next week. Earnings
for S&P 500 companies are expected to dip 0.5%, the second
consecutive quarter of decline, according to Refinitiv IBES
data.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS.N rose 0.7% after the Wall
Street bank said it has overhauled its main business units ahead
of its quarterly results next week. The bank would report its
future earnings, starting with the latest December quarter,
under the newly named units - investment banking, global
markets, asset management and consumer & wealth management.
Shares in Apache Corp APA.N jumped 17.3% after it and
France's Total TOTF.PA said they made a major oil discovery
offshore Suriname with the closely watched Maka-Central 1 well.
Tesla Inc TSLA.O gained 1.5% after the company launched
its Model Y electric sports utility vehicle program at its new
Shanghai factory.