Futures gain with initial jobless claims data on tap

[February 05, 2015]  By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures advanced on Thursday, putting equities on track to rebound from a late selloff in the prior session, ahead of data on the labor market and the latest round of earnings reports.

* The S&P 500 snapped a two-day rally of 2.8 percent on Wednesday, after the European Central Bank abruptly canceled its acceptance of Greek bonds in return for funding and crude prices ended a four-day run of gains.

* Greece said on Thursday it would not be "blackmailed" by its European Union partners but it did want to find a joint solution to its debt and austerity crisis.

* Oil prices resumed their advance, with U.S. crude up 1.5 percent to $49.19 and Brent up 2 percent to $55.22.

* Pfizer said it would buy Hospira Inc for about $15 billion to gain access to its biosimilars. The offer was at a 39 percent premium to Hospira's close on Wednesday. Hospira shares rocketed 35.5 percent to $87.80 in premarket trading, while Pfizer gained 1.7 percent $32.60.

* Data expected at 8:30 a.m. (1330 GMT) includes weekly initial jobless claims, anticipated by investors for a pulse on the labor market's health ahead of Friday's monthly payrolls report. Separate data released Wednesday on private payrolls fell short of expectations.

* Investors will also eye retailers' monthly sales results on Thursday to see how big an impact lower gas prices have had on consumer spending.

* Twitter  shares climbed 3.9 percent to $42.31 in premarket after Bloomberg reported that the microblogging site had reached a deal with Google to make its tweets more searchable online.

* Michael Kors shares tumbled 11.2 percent to $62.99 before the opening bell after the luxury accessories retailer posted third-quarter results and gave its outlook for 2015.

* According to Thomson Reuters data, of 273 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings, 73.3 percent beat expectations, above the 69 percent beat rate for the past four quarters.

* European stocks fell, weighed by sharp declines in Greek shares after the ECB move, while Asian stocks were mostly lower, with Japan's Nikkei off 1 percent. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat.

Futures snapshot at 7:32 a.m. EST (1232 GMT):

* S&P 500 e-minis  were up 14 points, or 0.69 percent, with 173,543 contracts changing hands.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis  were up 20.25 points, or 0.48 percent, in volume of 35,211 contracts.

* Dow e-minis were up 100 points, or 0.57 percent, with 28,403 contracts changing hands.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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