Wall Street was set to open sharply higher on Friday after an improved revenue forecast from Intel Corp and better-than expected quarterly profit from Dell Inc boosted the technology sector and consumer spending rose in July.

Shares of Dell, the world's No. 2 personal computer maker behind Hewlett-Packard Co , rose 5 percent in premarket trading, a day after posting a larger-than-expected profit.

Dell's chief financial officer cited some pockets of improved demand, particularly in the consumer sector.

Intel raised its third-quarter revenue forecast beyond analyst estimates.

U.S. consumer spending rose as expected in July, the government reported, lifted by the cash-for-clunkers program that fueled demand for autos.

I don't know if (the data) is enough to affect the market that much, said Stephen Massocca, managing director at Wedbush Morgan in San Francisco.

I think the bigger news is obviously Dell this morning. That will probably have more of an impact than anything else.

Further insight into the consumer's health could come when the Reuters/University of Michigan final August consumer sentiment index is released at 9:55 a.m EDT.

S&P 500 futures rose 8 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures jumped 60 points and Nasdaq 100 futures added 22.50 points.

Shares of Apple Inc rose 1.4 percent before the bell after China Unicom <0762.HK>, China's No. 2 mobile carrier, agreed to sell the iPhone in China, giving Apple access to the world's largest mobile market.

U.S. stocks closed higher on Thursday as investors turned back an early sell-off, thanks to a rebound in oil prices and an 8.4 percent jump in Boeing Co shares.

Crude futures pared gains Friday, up 0.7 percent.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

Michigan Electronics Intel Apple inc.