US pre-open: Futures rise ahead of jobs data, Powell speech

US stock futures were rising on Thursday morning in New York as markets rebound after recent falls, with investors watching incoming labour-market data and comments from the head of the Federal Reserve closely.

"Markets are in recovery mode this morning following a session that saw sharp declines across risk assets globally," said Joshua Mahony, analyst at Scope Markets.

As for 0709 on Wall Street, the Dow was rising 0.2%, the S&P 500 gained 0.3% while the Nasdaq increased 0.6%.

The ADP Employment Report is due out at 0815 ET and is expected to show that 150,000 private-sector jobs were added to the US economy in February, after a 107,000 gain the month before.

"While many disregard the privately compiled ADP payrolls report given its questionable correlation with Friday’s headline figure, it does at least provide the basis for markets to gradually turn their attention to the jobs market ahead of the main jobs report," Mahony said.

Wednesday will also see the closely watched JOLTS survey for January, at 1000 ET, which is forecast to reveal that job openings fell to 8.90m from 9.03m.

Meanwhile, Fed chair Jerome Powell will make a testimony to Congress at 1000 ET, with prepared remarks due out at 0830 ET.Similarly to his last address, the prepared text is likely to be released at 8:30am.

"Powell is expected to ask policymakers for patience before cutting interest rates," said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote Bank. "US economic growth remains resilient, the jobs market remains hot – remember the last two NFP prints in the US were above the 300K mark, and disinflation has given signs of slowing at the beginning of the year."

In corporate news, shares of sportswear and sneaker retailer Foot Locker sank nearly 10% in pre-market trade despite beating forecasts with its fourth-quarter results. Market chatter is pointing to an underwhelming outlook for earnings in the coming year as the reason for the negative share-price reaction.