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Salesforce ( CRM ) falls on report of likely Informatica ( INFA ) deal

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March retail sales data due at 8:30 a.m. ET

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Futures up: Dow 0.28%, S&P 0.45%, Nasdaq 0.57%

(Updated at 6:50 am. ET/1050 GMT)

By Shashwat Chauhan and Shristi Achar A

April 15 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on

Monday after Wall Street witnessed a bruising sell-off in the

previous session on the back of disappointing earnings from some

big U.S. banks, while escalating tensions in the Middle East

made investors wary.

All three major indexes fell more than 1% on Friday,

registering weekly losses.

President Joe Biden warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu the United States would not participate in a

counter-offensive against Iran - an option Netanyahu's war

cabinet favors after a mass drone and missile attack on Israeli

territory - according to officials familiar with the

development.

Iran launched the attack after a suspected Israeli strike on

its embassy compound in Syria on April 1 that killed top

Revolutionary Guards commanders. However, Iran's attack,

launched using more than 300 missiles and drones, caused only

modest damage in Israel.

"The involvement on Iran has raised the geopolitical risk

premium, and we expect markets to trade with a dose of caution

over the coming days," Mohit Kumar, chief economist Europe at

Jefferies, said in a note.

"However, beyond the near term uncertainty, we are still

in buy the dip camp for risky assets and range bound environment

for rates."

Defense stocks like Lockheed Martin ( LMT ), General

Dynamics ( GD ) and RTX Corp ( RTX ) gained between 1% and 1.8%

in premarket trading.

With the first-quarter earnings season now in full swing,

investors will look for numbers from brokerage Charles Schwab ( SCHW )

and lender Goldman Sachs ( GS ) before the opening

bell.

Also on the docket are comments from Dallas Federal Reserve

President Lorie Logan later in the day. Fed Chair Jerome Powell

is scheduled to speak on Tuesday.

On the data front, a retail sales reading for March, due at

8:30 a.m. ET, could be key in gauging how the U.S. consumer is

faring in the current high-interest-rate environment.

U.S. equities have sold off recently as investors sharply

readjusted their expectations of how much the Fed would cut

rates this year. Traders have priced in only 42 basis points of

cuts this year, according to LSEG data, down from about 150 bps

at the start of the year.

Money market participants now see an about 50% chance of the

central bank kicking off its easing cycle in July, according to

the CME FedWatch Tool.

At 6:50 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 106 points, or

0.28%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 23.5 points, or 0.45%,

and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 103 points, or 0.57%.

Most megacap growth stocks edged higher in premarket

trading. However, Apple ( AAPL ) fell 1.2% after data from

research firm IDC showed the company's smartphone shipments

dropped about 10% in the first quarter of 2024.

Tesla pared premarket losses, last down 0.7%, after

a report said the electric vehicle maker will lay off more than

10% of its global workforce.

Salesforce ( CRM ) dipped 2.5% after Reuters reported,

citing a source, that the customer relations software maker was

in advanced talks to acquire Informatica ( INFA ).