By Shreyashi Sanyal and Shristi Achar A
(Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes were poised to open higher on Monday on optimism over a likely deal to raise the U.S. debt limit as a deadline edged closer, while investors looked ahead to comments from Federal Reserve policymakers through the week.
President Joe Biden said over the weekend he expects to meet with congressional leaders on Tuesday and remained optimistic about agreeing on a deal to raise the nation's $31.4 trillion borrowing limit.
The months-long standoff in Washington has added to global economic worries, as a new non-partisan congressional report cited "significant risk" of a historic default within the first two weeks of June.
"Given that there is a solid deadline approaching for the debt ceiling, that is more likely what investors are waking up to this week and anticipating that there will be a resolution," said Peter Andersen, founder of Andersen Capital Management.
"And as Washington leaks out increments with rolling disclosure about how the discussions are proceeding ... that probably is bolstering confidence in investors."
At 8:42 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 51 points, or 0.15%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 7.5 points, or 0.18%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 20.75 points, or 0.15%.
Investors will also be tracking speeches by a host of Federal Reserve officials this week, including Chair Jerome Powell on Friday, for clues on potential rate cuts this year.
Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said on Monday he does not expect any interest-rate cuts this year as he does not see inflation going down as fast as market participants believe.
Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari and Fed Board Governor Lisa Cook are among other Fed officials set to speak later in the day.
Futures also trimmed some gains after The New York Federal Reserve's "Empire State" index on current business conditions dropped to a reading of 31.8 in May, against expectations of a 3.75 decline.
Retail sales, housing data and a reading on weekly jobless claims will also be watched through the week, after data on Friday showed that consumer sentiment slumped to a six-month low in May, and U.S. long-term inflation expectations jumped to the highest since 2011.
Among stocks, Oneok Inc fell 5.6% in premarket trading as it agreed on Sunday to buy U.S. pipeline operator Magellan Midstream Partners in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $18.8 billion including debt. Shares of Magellan rose 15.3%.
Shares of Google-parent Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Inc fell 1% on a report that Loop Capital downgraded its stock to "hold" from "buy", while shares of Meta Platforms Inc rose 1.1% after the brokerage upgraded to "buy" from "hold".
Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) Corp added 2.2% after Raymond James upgraded the financial services co to "outperform' from "market perform" on its ability to attract new accounts.