US STOCKS-Futures higher ahead of jobs data

May 8, 2015 9:50 AM

* Futures up: Dow 28 pts, S&P 3.25 pts, Nasdaq 11 pts

By Tanya Agrawal

May 8 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were higher on Friday ahead of the April payrolls report, which could affect when the U.S. Federal Reserve raises interest rates for the first time since 2006.

* U.S. jobs are expected to have grown by 224,000 in April after the meager 126,000 increase in March, with unemployment falling to a seven-year low. The report is due at 8:30 a.m. ET (1230 GMT).

* A drop in the jobless rate to 5.4 percent from 5.5 percent, as analysts expect, could bring forward bets on when the Fed will raise interest rates.

* However, most of Wall Street's top banks see the Fed holding off until at least September before raising interest rates, based on Reuters' most recent poll.

* The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits held near a 15-year low last week.

* Wall Street closed higher on Thursday as tech stocks rebounded and a global bond sell-off eased as oil prices fell more than 3 percent.

* JD.com shares rose 2.9 percent to $34.05 in premarket trading as China's No.2 e-commerce company's revenue topped analysts' expectation.

* Alibaba was up 1.1 percent at $86.95, a day after the company's results also topped expectations.

* Salesforce.com fell 4.1 percent to $71.44 after Reuters reported that Microsoft was currently not weighing an offer for the cloud software company.

Futures snapshot at 6:30 a.m. ET (1030 GMT):

* S&P 500 e-minis were up 3.25 points, or 0.16 percent, with 87,164 contracts changing hands.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 11 points, or 0.25 percent, in volume of 16,522 contracts.

* Dow e-minis were up 28 points, or 0.16 percent, with 16,031 contracts changing hands. (Reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Savio D'Souza)