Stock futures lower ahead of July jobs data

By Tanya Agrawal

(Reuters) - Stock index futures were slightly lower on Friday ahead of the July payrolls report, a key data point that could feed into the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision on when to increase rates.

The number of U.S. jobs is expected to have risen by 223,00 in July, on par with June, providing further sign of an improving economy that could allow the Fed to raise interest rates in September. The data is expected at 8:30 a.m. ET.

The Fed has said it will raise rates only when it sees a sustained recovery in the economy.

Wall Street ended sharply lower on Thursday as weak earnings reports from media companies stirred fears that more viewers are ditching cable TV, dragging the sector to its worst two-day loss since the financial crisis.

Earnings announcements scheduled for Friday include those from Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-a) (NYSE: BRK-b), Cablevision Systems (NYSE: CVC) and Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN).

With about three-quarters of the S&P 500 companies having reported, second-quarter earnings are estimated to have increased 1.6 percent while revenues are projected to have fallen 3.4 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Nvidia's (NASDAQ: NVDA) shares were up 10.1 percent at $22.52 in premarket trading, a day after the chipmaker reported a surprise rise in second-quarter revenue.

JD.com (NASDAQ: JD) was up 1.2 percent at $33.20 after China's second largest e-commerce site by sales, reported a 61 percent year-on-year rise in second quarter revenues, topping expectations.

(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

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