Wall Street set to open higher, interest rates in focus

By Yashaswini Swamynathan

REUTERS - Wall Street was set to open slightly higher on Monday after Friday's lackluster U.S. jobs report suggested the Federal Reserve will raise rates just once this year.

The market was also underpinned by crude prices, which held on to last week's gains after wildfires in Canada hit supplies. [O/R]

U.S. stocks broke a three-day losing streak and closed higher on Friday after investors focused on the positive aspects of the April jobs report.

Still, a bigger-than-expected drop in China's imports and exports in April pointed to weak demand and raised concerns about the ability of the world's second-largest economy to sustain its recent recovery.

In the two weeks to Friday, mixed economic data and uncertainty about the path of future interest rate hikes had put a dampener on a stock market rally that had seen the S&P gain about 15 percent from its February lows.

"I'm looking for a steady to choppy market with an upward bias," said Peter Cardillo Chief Market Economist at First Standard Financial in New York.

Investors are being comforted by a recovery in oil prices and as the overall trend in the labor market remains strong, he said.

A Reuters survey following the jobs report showed that Wall Street's top banks have all but written off the chance of a June rate increase. Most now see the rate hike coming in September.

"While the fundamentals for U.S. growth continue to be good, uncertainty and risks remain," Charles Evans, president of the Bank of Chicago told a conference in London on Monday.

"In my opinion, the continuation of 'wait and see' monetary policy response is appropriate to ensure that economic growth continues," he said.

S&P 500 e-minis were up 2.5 points, or 0.12 percent, at 8:25 a.m. ET (1225 GMT) with 194,844 contracts traded. Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 9.25 points, or 0.21 percent, on volume of 27,314 contracts while Dow e-minis were up 26 points, or 0.15 percent, with 26,996 contracts exchanged.

Bank of Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari will speak at 1:00 p.m. ET in Minnesota.

Shares of Lending Club, operator of the world's biggest online lending platform, fell 23.9 percent to $5.40 in premarket trading after Renaud Laplanche resigned as CEO and chairman following a board review.

Krispy Kreme jumped 23.5 percent to $20.83 after agreeing to be taken private for $1.35 billion.

Baidu shares were down 5.3 percent at $164.64 trading after regulators in China asked the company to rein in paid-for ads following the death of a student who had sought treatment for cancer through the company's search engine.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Ted Kerr)