* Mega-cap stocks jump
* U.S. job growth far below expectations in April
* Futures: Nasdaq up 1.13%, Dow down 0.09%, S&P up 0.31%
(Adds comments, bullets, details; updates prices throughout)
By Shreyashi Sanyal and Sruthi Shankar
May 7 (Reuters) - Futures tracking the Nasdaq jumped more
than 1% on Friday as mega-cap growth stocks rallied after a
downbeat jobs report eased valuation concerns and worries about
the U.S. Federal Reserve reducing its massive stimulus program
anytime soon.
The Labor Department's closely watched employment report
showed U.S. employers hired far fewer workers than expected in
April, with nonfarm payrolls increasing by only 266,000 jobs
last month after rising by 770,000 in March. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast payrolls advancing
by 978,000 jobs.
Highly valued stocks such as Microsoft Corp MSFT.O , Apple
Inc AAPL.O , Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O and Facebook Inc FB.O
rose more than 1% each in premarket trading.
"One number doesn't make a trend, but it takes some of the
heat off the economy overheating and inflation moving
dramatically higher," said Larry Adam, chief investment officer
at Raymond James. "This puts less pressure on the Fed to
prematurely talk about tapering."
The report also showed unemployment rate rose to 6.1% in
April from 6.0% in March.
Economically sensitive cyclical stocks reversed earlier
gains, with planemaker Boeing Co BA.N down 0.1%, lender
Goldman Sachs Group Inc GS.N falling1.4% and oil major Chevron
Corp CVX.N dropping 0.6%.
At 9:06 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were down 32 points,
or 0.09%, S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 13 points, or 0.31%,
and Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 154 points, or 1.13%.
The Nasdaq Composite index .IXIC is set to fall 2.3% this
week, its worst weekly decline since late February. The S&P 500
.SPX and the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI indexes,
however, are on track for weekly gains.
Payments firm Square Inc SQ.N rose 4.7% after reporting
better-than-expected quarterly profit, as surging demand for
bitcoin fueled a jump in cryptocurrency transactions on its
application. Streaming device maker Roku Inc ROKU.O jumped 11.4%
following upbeat revenue outlook, while fitness equipment maker
Peloton Interactive PTON.O gained 5.6% as it laid out steps to
improve the safety of the equipment.