Futures higher a day after S&P touches two-month low

Thomson ReutersTraders work on the floor of the NYSE

By Yashaswini Swamynathan

(Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures were higher on Friday, a day after the S&P 500 fell to its lowest since March as investors fretted about a rate hike as early as June.

* Oil was marginally up on Friday and hovered near a six-month high, helped by supply disruptions in Canada and Nigeria. [O/R]

* The Fed has pointed to a strengthening labor market and rising inflation that would encourage the central bank to further tighten monetary policy.

* New York Fed President William Dudley said on Thursday the U.S. economy was strong enough to warrant a rate hike in June or July.

* The S&P 500 has had a rough ride in the last few weeks, following underwhelming corporate earnings, mixed economic data and uncertainty regarding the trajectory of rate hikes.

* Up to Thursday’s close, the benchmark index is 4.4 percent short of its May 2015 record high.

* Existing home sales in the United States are expected to have risen 1.3 percent in April. The data is due at 10:00 a.m. ET (1400 GMT).

* Tesla rose 1.4 percent to $218.23 in premarket trading on Friday after the company priced its secondary offering of 9.3 million shares at $215 each.

* InterOil jumped 23.7 percent to $39.16 after Oil Search agreed to buy the company for $2.2 billion.

* Yahoo fell 5.05 percent to $35.15 after the Wall Street Journal reported that Verizon and others were planning a $2 billion-$3 billion bid for the company’s core business.

Futures snapshot at 7:16 a.m. EDT:

* S&P 500 e-minis were up 4.25 points, or 0.21 percent, with 155,875 contracts traded.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 12.75 points, or 0.3 percent, on volume of 21,843 contracts.

* Dow e-minis were up 41 points, or 0.24 percent, with 23,863 contracts changing hands.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)

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