Stock futures bounce back ahead of jobs report

[January 08, 2016]  By Tanya Agrawal

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were higher on Friday as Chinese stocks recovered, oil prices clawed back after touching 12-year lows and the yuan was firmer, ahead of the monthly U.S. jobs report.

* The report is expected to show that U.S. employers likely maintained a fairly strong pace of hiring in December, with nonfarm payrolls expected to increase by 200,000, and unemployment rate holding steady at 5 percent. The report is expected at 8:30 a.m. ET (1330 GMT)

* A solid report would suggest that the recent weakness was largely restricted to manufacturers and exporters. Both have been hit by a strong dollar and anemic global demand.

* China nudged the yuan higher for the first time in nine days, while traders welcomed the country's decision to suspend a circuit breaker which halted trading twice this week.

* The CSI300 index and the Shanghai Composite index both closed up 2 percent, capping off a week of tumult.

* Oil prices rose modestly, boosted by the recovery in Chinese shares, but remained within reach of 11-1/2 lows.

* U.S. stocks closed down sharply on Thursday, giving the Dow and S&P 500 their worst four-day starts to a year ever.

* Shares of Cirrus Logic were down 3.5 percent at $25.85 in premarket trading, a day after the Apple supplier cut its revenue estimates for the third quarter. Apple was up 0.7 percent at $97.10.

* Time Warner was up 2.2 percent at $71.75 after the New York Post reported that activist shareholders could push the media company to sell itself or spin off its lucrative HBO business.

* Baxalta International was up 3.8 percent at $42 after reports that peer drugmaker Shire Pharmaceuticals is preparing to announce its roughly $32.5 billion acquisition of Baxalta as early as Monday. Shire's U.S. listed shares were up 2.5 percent at $191.45.
 

Futures snapshot at 6:36 a.m. ET:

* Dow e-minis were up 102 points, or 0.62 percent, with 63,381 contracts changing hands.

* S&P 500 e-minis were up 12 points, or 0.62 percent, with 291,281 contracts traded.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 32.25 points, or 0.75 percent, on volume of 53,362 contracts.

(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

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