* Payrolls, wholesale trade data on tap
* AbbVie forecast 2015 earnings above expectations
* Futures off: Dow 54 pts, S&P 6.5 pts, Nasdaq 7.5 pts
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Jan 9 (Reuters) – S&P Futures were lower on Friday, after a two-day rally in equities put the S&P 500 back in positive territory for the new year and ahead of a key report on the labor market.
* The S&P 500 added 3 percent over the last two sessions, retracing a good portion of its 4.2 percent loss in the previous five trading days, on expectations the U.S. economy will continue to accelerate and hopes the European Central Bank will take more aggressive stimulus action in the coming weeks.
* The December payrolls report is due at 8:30 a.m. (1330 GMT). Expectations call for 240,000 non-farm payrolls to be added after the outsized 321,000 increase in November.
* Later in the session at 10:00 a.m. (1500 GMT), wholesale trade data for November is expected. Inventories are estimated to climb 0.3 percent versus a 0.4 percent increase in October.
* AbbVie forecast 2015 earnings largely above analysts’ average estimate after the close on Thursday, betting on its recently approved hepatitis C drug and growth in its auto-immune disease treatment, Humira.
* U.S.-listed shares of Infosys rose 5.1 percent to $ 33.73 in premarket after India’s second-largest software services exporter beat forecasts and maintained its sales growth outlook for the year.
* European shares were lower after a two-day winning streak, with Spain’s Banco Santander sliding over 10 percent after announcing a capital increase and dividend cut while Asian stocks rose on upbeat expectations for U.S. jobs data.
Futures snapshot at 7:27 a.m.:
* S&P 500 e-minis were down 6.5 points, or 0.32 percent, with 112,781 contracts changing hands.
* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 7.5 points, or 0.18 percent, in volume of 18,141 contracts.
* Dow e-minis were down 54 points, or 0.3 percent, with 20,246 contracts changing hands.
(Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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