US STOCKS-Wall St set to rise on vaccine hopes, Pepsi boost

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* Analog Devices rises on $21 billion deal to buy rival
Maxim
* Pepsi gains as results beat on higher demand for snacks
* Pfizer, BioNTech get 'fast track' status for vaccine
candidates
* Futures up: Dow 0.74%, S&P 0.69%, Nasdaq 0.87%

(Adds quote, details; updates prices)
By Medha Singh and Devik Jain
July 13 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes were set to
rise on Monday as Pepsi kicked off the second-quarter earnings
season on an upbeat note, with investors also cheering signs of
progress in COVID-19 vaccine development.
Shares of German biotech firm BioNTech BNTX.O jumped 9.2%
in premarket trading and U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer
PFE.N climbed 2.4% as two of their experimental coronavirus
vaccines received the U.S. FDA's 'fast track' designation.
"There are renewed expectations that the Pfizer vaccine will
be ready for approval by the end of October, which is sooner
than expected - so that's very good news," said Thomas Hayes,
managing member at Great Hill Capital LLC in New York.
Merger news also perked up investors as Analog Devices Inc
ADI.O announced a $21 billion deal to buy rival Maxim
Integrated Products Inc MXIM.O , sending its shares up 17% in
premarket trading. Analog shares rose 0.2%. Pepsi Co PEP.O gained 2.6% as it benefited from a surge in
at-home consumption of salty snacks such as Fritos and Cheetos
during lockdowns. "The market is sniffing out that the worst is behind us and
is looking forward to earnings and guidance, which will more
than likely beat very low expectations," Hayes said.
Still, investors are bracing for what could be the sharpest
drop in quarterly earnings for S&P 500 firms since the financial
crisis, according to IBES Refinitiv data. Results from big banks
will be in focus this week.
The April-June reports will reveal the extent of the damage
wreaked by the coronavirus-induced lockdowns on corporate
profits. With a record jump in cases in the United States and
some other hotspots around the world, analysts have predicted a
return to S&P 500 earnings growth only by 2021.
Recent economic data, however, has pointed to a revival in
business activity, helping the Nasdaq clinch its sixth record
close in seven weeks on Friday as broader markets rose on
positive data from Gilead's potential COVID-19 treatment.
The S&P 500 is about 6% below its own record high hit in
February.
At 8:18 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 193 points, or
0.74%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 22 points, or 0.69% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 93.75 points, or 0.87%.
Tesla Inc TSLA.O jumped 6.2%, building on a rally of
nearly 25% in the past two consecutive weeks. Over the weekend,
it slashed the price for its Model Y SUV.