By Tanya Agrawal(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were lower on Friday ahead of the May payrolls report, a key data point that could feed into the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision on when to increase rates.* Non-farm payrolls are expected to have expanded to 225,000 in the month from 223,000 in April, with the unemployment rate holding at 5.4 percent. The Labor Department will issue the data at 8:30 a.m. ET (1230 GMT).* The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits fell last week and was the 13th straight week that claims held below the 300,000 threshold, which is usually associated with a strengthening labor market.* The Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley speaks before the Economic Club of Minnesota June Luncheon, in Minneapolis, Minnesota at 12:40 a.m. ET. Investors will keep an eye on the speech for his take on the monthly jobs data.* European shares were on track for their worst week of the year as a losing streak for bonds rumbled on and with wary investors anticipating more debt drama over Greece.* Greece delayed a payment to the International Monetary Fund as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras demanded changes to tough terms from international creditors for aid to stave off default. Tsipras is set to address the Greek parliament at 11:00 a.m. ET.* LightInTheBox shares fell 3.3 percent to $4.68 in premarket trading a day after the Chinese online retailer forecast second-quarter revenue below analysts' expectations.* Lightbridge jumped 12.2 percent to $1.93 after the company was granted a patent by South Korea for a metallic nuclear fuel design.Futures snapshot at 7:19 a.m. ET:* S&P 500 e-minis were down 5.75 points, or 0.27 percent, with 136,324 contracts traded.* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were down 11.5 points, or 0.26 percent, on volume of 21,479 contracts.* Dow e-minis were down 48 points, or 0.27 percent, with 21,389 contracts changing hands.(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)Join the conversation about this story »
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