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* Intel jumps on plans to list self-driving car unit
* Travel shares join rebound
* Futures climb: Dow 1.01%, S&P 1.31%, Nasdaq 1.80%
Dec 7 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks looked set to open 1% higher on Tuesday as technology firms bounced back on easing concerns around the Omicron variant, while Intel jumped after plans to take its self-driving car unit public.
Shares of the chip giant surged 9.3% in premarket trading after revealing the plan to list Mobileye in the United States in mid-2022.
Other chipmakers Advanced Micro Devices, Micron Technology and Nvidia rose 3.0%. Big Tech stocks Google-owner Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Apple gained nearly 2%.
Tesla Inc rose 3.7% in premarket trading after dropping into bear market territory, or 20% off its record high close, on an intraday basis on Monday.
Some high-flying growth stocks were battered in recent days as investors rotated into sectors like energy, banks that stand to perform better in a tightened U.S. monetary policy environment. News of the Omicron variant also injected volatility into the market last week.
U.S. stock indexes, however, closed higher on Monday as investors were encouraged by optimistic comments from a top U.S. official on the latest COVID-19 variant. The CBOE volatility index too eased from a 10-month high it hit last week.
"We think that in 2022, markets will continue to see periods of optimism and pessimism on both inflation and growth, and flip-flop between those views until there is more clarity," said Willem Sels, global chief investment officer, private banking and wealth management at HSBC.
At 7:02 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 355 points, or 1.01%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 60.25 points, or 1.31%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 284.75 points, or 1.8%.
Shares of Vir Biotechnology jumped 11.3% after British drugmaker GSK said an antibody-based COVID-19 therapy it is developing with Vir is effective against all mutations of the new Omicron variant.
Travel shares continued the momentum, with Carnival Corp and United Airlines up 3.3% and 2.6%, respectively, leading the gains among the major airlines and cruise operators.
American Airlines Group Inc rose 2.8% after the carrier said Chief Executive Officer Doug Parker would retire on March 31.
Oil stocks including Exxon Mobil and Chevron Corp gained, tracking gains in crude prices. (Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Devik Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
