US STOCKS-Wall St headed higher as travel stocks rally on vaccine roll-out

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* FedEx, UPS handling vaccine distribution, stocks rise
* Cruise ship, airline operators rise
* Alexion Pharma set to hit 4-1/2 year high on AstraZeneca
deal
* Futures up: Dow 0.82%, S&P 0.74%, Nasdaq 0.45%

(Adds comment, updates prices)
By Ambar Warrick and Shreyashi Sanyal
Dec 14 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were set for a
strong open on Monday as travel stocks surged on the launch of a
nationwide COVID-19 vaccine campaign, while Alexion
Pharmaceuticals jumped following a bumper buyout offer from
Britain's AstraZeneca.
Shipments of the Pfizer-BioNTech PFE.N BNTX.O vaccine
fanned out to distribution points across the United States on
Sunday, with injections set to begin later on Monday.
The inoculations are seen as pivotal toward ultimately
halting the COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed more than a
million lives around the world and bought economic activity to a
halt.
"There is no question the market is very optimistic about
the vaccines finally being delivered," said Thomas Hayes,
managing member at Great Hill Capital Llc in New York.
Cruise operators Carnival Corp CCL.N and Royal Caribbean
Cruises RCL.N rose 4.7% and 3.1%, respectively, in premarket
trade, while stocks of major airline operators rose between 1.5%
and 3.0%, with American Airlines Group AAL.O leading gains.
Travel and leisure stocks are the worst hit by restrictions
on movement due to the virus outbreak, and have reacted
positively to any vaccine-related news.
At 8:19 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 247 points, or
0.82%, S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 27 points, or 0.74%, and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 55.5 points, or 0.45%.
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc ALXN.O surged 31.3% and was
set to hit a 4-1/2 year high after drugmaker AstraZeneca AZN.L
AZN.O said it would buy the U.S. biotech firm for $39 billion
in one of this year's biggest mergers. AstraZeneca's U.S.-listed
shares fell 5.8%. "It is a sign that animal spirits are back ... companies are
reluctant to do deals when they have a negative outlook on the
future, but the fact that you are seeing these types of big
deals on merger Mondays is a sign of things to come," Hayes
added.
Shares of delivery firms FedEx Corp FDX.N and United
Parcel Service Inc UPS.N , which are leading the vaccine
distribution project, rose about 1.7% and 1.9%, respectively.
U.S. stocks had rallied through the past few weeks, with the
S&P 500 touching a series of record highs as markets bet on the
swift approval and roll-out of a vaccine.
But uncertainty over more fiscal stimulus had stifled gains,
after the Senate last week approved a one-week extension of
federal funding to avoid a government shutdown and to provide
more time for negotiations on coronavirus relief and an
overarching spending bill. Among other movers, ecommerce company Alibaba Group Holding
Ltd BABA.N shed 1.5% after China warned its internet majors of
more anti-trust scrutiny, slapped fines and announced probes
into deals involving Alibaba and Tencent Holdings Ltd 0700.HK .