By Niket Nishant and Sukriti Gupta (Reuters) -Wall Street's main indexes were set to open marginally higher on Wednesday following a blip in a steady rally, as investors awaited fresh clues on the interest-rate trajectory. With the U.S. government shutdown delaying the release of key economic reports, traders are likely to lean heavily on commentary from Federal Reserve officials to guide their positioning. Euphoria around artificial intelligence has helped equities brush off concerns around the shutdown so far, but gold's historic break above $4,000 an ounce underscores growing appetite for a hedge against policy risks and a shaky macroeconomic backdrop. "Gold is becoming the safe harbor the dollar used to be," said Matthew Tuttle, CEO of Tuttle Capital Management. At 08:22 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 110 points, or 0.23%, S&P 500 E-minis rose 8 points, or 0.12%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis climbed 23.75 points, or 0.09%. Remarks from St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem, Fed Governor Michael Barr, Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee and Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari are on deck. Minutes from the Fed's September meeting are also due at 2 p.m. ET. The rally in stocks has also drawn support from expectations of a dovish Fed going forward, as a batch of alternative indicators pointed to a softening labor market. Global investment firm Carlyle estimated on Tuesday that U.S. employers added just 17,000 jobs in September, based on data from its portfolio companies. That was well below the 54,000 gain economists polled by Reuters had expected in the official nonfarm payrolls report, which was due last week but was delayed by the government shutdown. Among stocks, FedEx fell 1.7% in premarket trading after J.P. Morgan downgraded it to "neutral" from "overweight". U.S.-listed shares of gold miners rose, with Newmont, Kinross Gold and Gold Fields up 2.2%, 2% and 3.5%, respectively. Shares of Confluent rose 18.1% after Reuters reported that the data streaming software maker is exploring a sale. Joby Aviation declined 10.9% after the electric air taxi maker on Tuesday priced a $514 million stock offering at a 10.9% discount to the stock's last sale. Freeport-McMoRan rose 2.2% after Citigroup upgraded the mining company's rating to "buy" from "neutral". (Reporting by Niket Nishant and Sukriti Gupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Anil D'Silva)
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