US STOCKS-Wall St set for strong open as Trump's Treasury selection boosts sentiment

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Updates before market open

By Johann M Cherian and Purvi Agarwal

Nov 25 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were poised to open higher on Monday, driven by investor optimism following Scott Bessent's nomination as Treasury Secretary in the incoming Trump administration.

President-elect Donald Trump ended weeks of speculation when he named his choice late on Friday, with some investment strategists saying Bessent could take measures to restrain further government borrowing, even as he follows through on fiscal and trade campaign pledges.

At 08:42 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis 1YMcv1 were up 348 points, or 0.78%, S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were up 34.75 points, or 0.58%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were up 121.25 points, or 0.58%.

Futures tracking the domestically focused small-caps index RTYcv1 rose 1.2% as the yield on 30-year Treasury bonds US30YT=RR led declines across the curve.

"He (Bessent) might have a moderate approach to tariffs and that's good news, because one of the fears is that if Trump does impose strong tariffs, that could be inflationary and would mean the Fed would have to perhaps reverse the present monetary policy," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities, New York.

Yields on Treasury bonds had surged after Trump's victory on expectations that his policies, considered broadly positive for the economy and big corporates, could stoke inflationary pressures and slow down the pace of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy easing.

Big banks gained, with Goldman Sachs GS.N rising 1.4%, JPMorgan Chase & Co JPM.N up 1% and Morgan Stanley MS.N adding 1% in premarket trading, while popular 'Trump trade' Tesla TSLA.O advanced 2.3%.

Among megacaps, Alphabet GOOGL.O and Amazon.com AMZN.O rose 0.8% and 1%, respectively.

The benchmark S&P 500 .SPX crossed 6,000 points for the first time days after the election verdict and has jumped more than 4% since Nov. 4. The Russell 2000 index .RUT has surged more than 8% during the same period and both indexes are near their respective record highs.

Brokerage Barclays raised its full-year 2025 forecast for the S&P 500 to 6,600 points from 6,500.

Expectations for what the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy move is likely to be in December have recently swayed between a pause and a cut. The CME Group's FedWatch Tool shows a nearly 55.7% probability the central bank will lower borrowing costs by 25 basis points.

The Personal Consumption Expenditure report, the central bank's preferred inflation gauge, will be on investors' radar this Thanksgiving week, along with the latest estimate on gross domestic product and minutes from the Fed's policy meeting earlier this month.

Macy's M.N recouped early losses and was last down 0.4% after the department store operator delayed the publication of its third-quarter results due to an accounting issue.

Crypto stocks such as MicroStrategy MSTR.O advanced 4.1%, MARA Holdings MARA.O rose 5.2% and Coinbase COIN.O added 2.6%, with bitcoin prices BTC= just shy of the $100,000 mark.

Bath & Body Works BBWI.N raised its forecast for full-year adjusted profit, sending the retailer's shares up 19.1%.

Peabody Energy BTU.N dropped 1.8% after Anglo American AAL.L decided to sell its remaining Australian steelmaking coal mines to the company for up to $3.78 billion in cash.

Retail trading platform Robinhood Markets HOOD.N advanced 7% after Morgan Stanley raised its rating on the stock.

(Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)

((johann.mcherian@thomsonreuters.com;))