US stock index futures rose before jobs data

U.S. stock-index futures rose, indicating the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index will rebound from a six-week low, as investors awaited reports on jobless-benefit claims and leading economic indicators.

S&P 500 futures expiring in September gained 0.4% to 1,642.5 at 6:38 a.m. in New York. Contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 38 points, or 0.3%, to 14,885.

“Investors will pay attention to the economic data in the U.S. today,” said to Bloomberg Pierre Mouton, who helps oversee $6 billion as a portfolio manager at Notz, Stucki & Cie. in Geneva. “I think it will confirm the good momentum of the U.S. economy. Fundamentals are improving, companies are in good shape and Fed policy is still benign. On a three- to six-month horizon, the U.S. market will trade higher than where it is today.”

A Labor Department data release at 8:30 a.m. in Washington may show jobless claims in the week ended Aug. 17 reached 330,000, from 320,000 a week earlier, according to economists’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. The Fed has said it plans to keep benchmark interest rates near zero at least as long as the unemployment rate is above 6.5% and inflation is no more than 2.5%.

In corporate world, Yahoo, the web giant, rose 1% to $27.34. More than 196 million users spent time on Yahoo’s websites in July, ComScore Inc. said. That’s 4.3 million more than Google and the first time Yahoo’s Web traffic surpassed that of the world’s most popular search engine since May 2011.

Hewlett-Packard lost 7.6% to $23.45 in early New York trading after forecasting earnings excluding some items of 98 cents to $1.02 a share for the fiscal fourth quarter. Analysts had predicted $1.01 on average, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Barrick Gold, the world’s biggest producer of the precious metal, added 1.3% to $19.31. Gold Fields said it will pay $300 million for Barrick’s Granny Smith, Lawlers and Darlot gold mines in Western Australia.

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. is expected to post second-quarter earnings of 28 cents a share. Dollar Tree Corp. is forecast to report second-quarter earnings of 74 cents a share. Sears is likely to post a loss of $1.10 a share in the second quarter.