US STOCKS-Wall St set to climb ahead of Amazon, Alphabet earnings; stimulus in focus

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* UPS gains on higher quarterly adjusted profit
* Exxon posts first annual loss as publicly listed company
* Futures up: Dow 0.81%, S&P 0.85%, Nasdaq 0.86%

(Adds comment; updates market prices)
By Devik Jain and Medha Singh
Feb 2 (Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes were set to open higher
on Tuesday, building on the previous session's momentum, as
investors anticipated strong results from Amazon and
Google-parent Alphabet while also looking for signs of progress
on a pandemic-relief package.
Alphabet GOOGL.O , which will report the cost and operating
profit of its Google Cloud business for the first time, added
1.3% premarket, while retail behemoth Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O
gained 1.2%.
Both the companies, set to report their fourth-quarter
earnings after market close, have jumped more than 7% each after
strong earnings from rest of the FAANG group last month.
Investors are gauging outlooks from big corporations to
justify elevated stock market valuations, at a time when
concerns over a raging pandemic and new coronavirus variants
have triggered fears of a short-term pullback in markets.
At 8:47 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 245 points, or
0.81%, S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 32 points, or 0.85%, and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 113.75 points, or 0.86%.
Market participants also kept a close watch on progress in
U.S. stimulus talks. After meeting with Republican senators at
the White House on Monday, President Joe Biden appeared poised
to push forward with his proposed $1.9 trillion relief plan even
if it fails to draw Republican support. "It's the new president's first real test – does he want to
be seen as reaching across the aisle, or does he actually want
to get things done? The markets will be hoping for the latter,"
said Connor Campbell, financial analyst at spreadbetters
Spreadex.
The U.S. CDC said 26.02 million people have received the
first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, compared with 26.03 million
infections, as of Feb. 1.
Wall Street's fear gauge .VIX retreated to near one-week
lows as a retail-driven mania for shorted assets showed signs of
fizzling out.
The so-called "meme" stocks GameStop Corp GME.N , AMC
Entertainment AMC.N and Nokia NOK.N tumbled between 41.0%
and 3.5%, while miners Hecla Mining Co HL.N and Coeur Mining
Inc CDE.N tracked a fall in spot silver prices XAG= .
Ford Motor Co F.N added 2.7% after the U.S. automaker said
it will invest $1.05 billion in its South African manufacturing
operations, including upgrades to expand production of its
Ranger pickup truck. Exxon Mobil Corp XOM.N posted its first annual loss as a
public company after the COVID-19 pandemic hammered energy
prices and it reduced the value of its shale gas properties by
more than $20 billion in the fourth quarter. However, its shares
rose 2.0%. United Parcel Service Inc UPS.N gained 4.7% after it
posted a 26.6% rise in quarterly adjusted profit, as its home
delivery volume surged to a record on pandemic-fueled online
purchases of holiday gifts and staples. China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA.N added 1.2% after
it beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter revenue, as its
e-commerce business benefited from a switch to online shopping
triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.