Updates with prices, analyst comment before the opening bell

By Pranav Kashyap and Nikhil Sharma

July 16 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Dow were on track for a modestly higher start on Wednesday as investors sifted through new inflation data and digested a fresh round of heavyweight earnings reports.

U.S. producer prices held steady in June, defying expectations as higher costs for tariff-hit goods were offset by a slump in services.

According to the Labor Department, the Producer Price Index climbed 2.3% year-over-year, slightly below forecasts while remaining flat for the month.

"It's (PPI data) basically been in the same range. It's a non-story. So the tariffs are most likely not going to filter into inflation," said Robert Ruggirello, chief investment officer at Brave Eagle Wealth Management.

Tuesday's inflation report revealed that rising prices, driven in part by President Donald Trump's tariffs, have put a damper on hopes for more aggressive Federal Reserve rate cuts.

Money markets pricing show traders are betting on just 43 basis points of Fed easing by year-end, with a July rate cut off the table and the odds of a September move now a coin-flip.

Meanwhile, U.S. semiconductor equipment makers were down after ASML warned it may not achieve growth in 2026 because of U.S. tariff uncertainty.

Applied Materials AMAT.O and Lam Research LRCX.O fell over 3% each in premarket trading, while KLA Corp KLAC.O was down 3%.

On the earnings front, Goldman Sachs GS.N rose 0.8% after posting a 22% surge in second-quarter profit, with wild market swings propelling equities trading revenue to record highs.

Morgan Stanley MS.N also reported a profit boost , thanks to market volatility energizing its trading desks, but its shares dipped 0.2%.

Meanwhile, Bank of America BAC.N climbed 2.1% as its traders capitalized on the market's turbulence, helping to lift second-quarter profits.

Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N rose 1% after the drugmaker reported a second-quarter profit above estimates and raised its full-year sales forecast by around $2 billion.

"We're going to get some feel of how tariffs are impacting corporate profits and margins. It's going to show that cooperates in America are resilient and they have ways to mitigate the impact of tariffs," said Lilian Chovin, head of asset allocation at Coutts.

At 8:49 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis YMcv1 were up 167 points, or 0.38%, U.S. S&P 500 E-minis EScv1 were up 13.25 points, or 0.21%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis NQcv1 were up 15.75 points, or 0.07%.

Trade tensions also remained in focus after Trump announced a 19% tariff on Indonesian goods as part of a new deal, one of several rushed agreements ahead of an August 1 deadline for broader tariff hikes. Meanwhile, the European Union was preparing retaliatory measures should talks with Washington falter.

Still, investors have shown resilience in recent weeks. The tech-heavy Nasdaq closed at a record high on Tuesday, powered by a jump in Nvidia's NVDA.O shares after the chip designer announced plans to resume sales of its H20 AI chips to China.

The stock rose 0.4%.

Global Payments GPN.N rose 6% after the Financial Times reported that activist hedge fund Elliott Management built a significant stake in the payments technology firm.

(Reporting by Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Maju Samuel)

((pranav.kashyap@tr.com; +919886482111;))