Wall Street set to open higher after strong private jobs data

By Sweta Singh

REUTERS - U.S. stocks looked set to open higher on Thursday after better-than-expected private sector hiring showed that the labor market continues to strengthen, further boosting chances of a rate hike by the Federal Reserve later this month.

The ADP private sector employment report showed that 253,000 jobs were added in May, well above the 185,000 jobs estimated by economists polled by Reuters.

The report by payrolls processor ADP acts as a precursor to the much-awaited nonfarm payrolls data, due on Friday, that includes hiring in both the public and private sectors.

"I think the Fed has already made up its mind. Unless we have a real weak employment data tomorrow I think it's a go-ahead for the Fed to raise rates in June," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial in New York.

San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams said on Wednesday he sees a total of three interest rate increases for this year as his baseline scenario, but views four hikes as also being appropriate if the U.S. economy gets an unexpected boost.

Forecasts from Fed officials suggest that a median of two more hikes are planned before the end of the year.

Traders priced in an 89 percent chance of a rate hike in the upcoming Fed meeting on June 14, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Dow e-minis were up 11 points, or 0.05 percent, with 19,927 contracts changing hands. S&P 500 e-minis were up 3 points, or 0.12 percent, with 120,697 contracts traded.

Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 10.25 points, or 0.18 percent, on volume of 27,341 contracts.

The Institute for Supply Management is likely to report that its national manufacturing index slipped to 54.5 in May from 54.8 in April. The data is expected at 10:00 ET.

"We have a multitude of macro news coming out today and that will set the tone for the market's direction... I think we are looking at another trying session," Cardillo said.

U.S. markets were little changed on Wednesday as financials dropped after JPMorgan and Bank of America warned of revenue weakness, offsetting gains in defensive plays.

Oil prices rose on Thursday after having fallen to three-week lows on Wednesday, buoyed by data that showed a big draw in U.S. crude stocks. [O/R]

Deere's shares were up 3.5 percent at $126.80 in premarket trading after the farm and construction major said it would buy privately held German road construction company Wirtgen Group for $5.2 billion, including debt.

Goodyear Tire's shares were up 6 percent at $34.15 after Morgan Stanley raised its rating to "overweight" from "underweight".

Box Inc was up 6.4 percent at $19.89 after the cloud storage firm's quarterly earnings edged ahead of Wall Street analysts' expectations.

(Reporting by Sweta Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)