US STOCKS-Wall St set to start month on firm footing; economic data in focus

* ISM manufacturing PMI expected at 10 a.m. EDT
* Moderna rises on vaccine supply deal with COVAX
* Estee Lauder falls as Q3 revenue misses estimates
* Futures up: Dow 0.54%, S&P 0.49%, Nasdaq 0.36%

(Adds comments, bullets; Updates prices throughout)
By Shreyashi Sanyal and Sruthi Shankar
May 3 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were set to
rise on Monday after a week of largely upbeat earnings
strengthened expectations of sustained profit growth for
companies, with investors awaiting data to gauge the pace of the
country's economic recovery.
With more than half of S&P 500 companies having already
reported results so far, profits are seen rising 46% in the
first quarter, compared with forecasts of 24% growth at the
start of April, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Megacap technology stocks rose in premarket trading, with
Apple Inc AAPL.O , Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O , Alphabet Inc
GOOGL.O , and Microsoft Corp MSFT.O adding between 0.2% and
0.7% after posting largely upbeat results in the prior week.
Improving economic data, strong earnings, fiscal stimulus
and the Federal Reserve's ultra accommodative stance have
supported markets, pushing the S&P 500 .SPX and the Nasdaq
.IXIC indexes to record levels last week.
"Earnings so far have been substantially better than
projections. People and institutions are feeling positive about
the market right now even though we're close to all-time highs,"
said Mark Grant, chief global market strategist at B. Riley FBR
in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Data on Monday is expected to show a slight rise in national
factory activity, while a reading of the Labor Department's
non-farm payrolls data is slated to be released on Friday.
At 8:36 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 181 points, or
0.54%, S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 20.25 points, or 0.49%,
and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 50 points, or 0.36%.
Tesla Inc TSLA.O fell 0.7%. Industry sources told Reuters
the electric-vehicle maker, under scrutiny in China over safety
and customer service complaints, is boosting its engagement with
mainland regulators and beefing up its government relations
team. Moderna Inc MRNA.O gained 3.5% after the drugmaker said it
will supply 34 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine this year
to the global COVAX program.
Estee Lauder Companies Inc EL.N slid 4.1% after missing
analysts' estimates for third-quarter sales, hurt by weak demand
for the cosmetics maker's premium makeup products as people
continued working from home.