U.S. stock futures rise after Clinton seen winner of debate

[October 10, 2016]  By Yashaswini Swamynathan

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Monday after Democrat Hillary Clinton was widely seen as the winner of the second presidential debate.

* A Clinton presidency would be more positive for the markets because her positions are more well known than those of her Republican rival Donald Trump, according to a Reuters poll.

* A CNN/ORC snap poll of debate watchers found that 57 percent thought Clinton won the encounter, versus 34 percent for Trump.

* Investors are also bracing for the third-quarter earnings season, which unofficially kicks off on Tuesday when aluminum producer Alcoa <AA.N> reports. Earnings of S&P 500 companies are expected to drop 0.7 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.

* Wall Street slipped on Friday as the pound dropped and a weaker-than-expected U.S. payrolls number did little to dampen hopes of an interest rate hike by the end of this year.

* The dollar, which has been swinging between gains and losses for the past five days, was up 0.11 percent against a basket of major currencies. The pound <GBP=> fell again on Monday.

* The U.S. bond market was closed for the Columbus Day holiday.

* Shares of Mylan soared 12 percent in heavy premarket trading. The drugmaker on Friday said it would pay $465 million to settle questions over whether it underpaid U.S. government healthcare programs by misclassifying its EpiPen emergency allergy treatment.

* Electric carmaker Tesla was up 2.85 percent at $202.21 after CEO Elon Musk said the company would not need to raise equity or corporate debt in the fourth quarter for its planned acquisition of SolarCity Corp, whose shares also rose.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as the market closes in New York, U.S., October 3, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

* Merck rose 3.1 percent after clinical data showed its Keytruda immunotherapy offered big benefits in previously untreated lung cancer patients, either when given on its own or with chemotherapy.

* Twitter dropped 6.7 percent and was the top mover premarket after a Bloomberg report on Saturday that potential bidders, including Salesforce.com, were said to have backed off.

Futures snapshot at 6:59 a.m. ET:

* Dow e-minis  were up 51 points, or 0.28 percent, with 17,155 contracts changing hands.

* S&P 500 e-minis  were up 7.5 points, or 0.35 percent, with 115,986 contracts traded.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 15.5 points, or 0.32 percent, on volume of 14,050 contracts.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

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