US STOCKS-Wall St set to rise after Monday's selloff as earnings take center stage

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* Xilinx jumps on $35 bln buyout deal from AMD
* Merck up after raising profit forecast
* Pfizer, Eli Lilly fall after results
* Futures up: Dow 0.3%, S&P 0.5%, Nasdaq 0.6%

(Adds comment, details; updates prices)
By Medha Singh and Shivani Kumaresan
Oct 27 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were set to
bounce on Tuesday following the benchmark S&P 500's worst day in
a month as investors parsed through a deluge of corporate
earnings, while bracing for volatility ahead of Election Day.
Merck & Co Inc MRK.N gained 1.2% premarket as it raised
its full-year earnings forecast. Drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co
LLY.N fell about 4% after its quarterly profit took a hit from
increased costs to develop a COVID-19 treatment.
Microsoft Corp MSFT.O firmed 0.8% in the run-up to its
results after the closing bell. Apple Inc AAPL.O , Amazon.com
AMZN.O , Google-parent Alphabet GOOGL.O and Facebook Inc
FB.O , which account for about a fifth of the S&P 500's total
value, also report results this week. "Overhanging the market is the growth of the virus in the
U.S., and technology in particular seems the least exposed
sector," said Rick Meckler, partner, Cherry Lane Investments, a
family investment office in New Vernon, New Jersey.
"A focus on the big technology companies may move this
market to rally despite the problems the virus is creating."
Record number of new coronavirus infections in the United
States and some European countries and a stalled U.S. fiscal
stimulus raised worries about a fledgling economic recovery,
sending the three major U.S. stock indexes to near four-week
lows on Monday.
Wall Street's fear gauge .VIX hovered at its highest level
in nearly two months on uncertainty about the outcome of the
election. Democratic challenger Joe Biden leads President Donald Trump
in national polls but the race is much tighter in battleground
states which determine the election outcome.
At 08:09 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis 1YMcv1 were up 0.32% at
27,669 points and S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 rose 0.46% to 3,409
points. Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were up 0.61% at 11,563
points.
Insurer American International Group Inc AIG.N jumped 6.4%
after its board approved a plan to separate the life and
retirement business from the rest of the company, and named
President Peter Zaffino as chief executive officer, effective
next year. Semiconductor designer Advanced Micro Devices Inc AMD.O
rose 0.3% as it agreed to buy Xilinx Inc XLNX.O in a $35
billion all-stock deal that will intensify its battle with Intel
Corp INTC.O in the data center chip market. Xilinx shares
soared about 15%. Industrial companies 3M Co MMM.N and Caterpillar Inc
CAT.N also dropped about 1% after reporting results.