CORRECTED-US STOCKS-Wall Street set to open higher after jobs data, China stimulus plan

(Corrects first bullet to say "130,000 jobs", not "130,0000
jobs")
* U.S. economy adds 130,000 jobs in August
* Average hourly earnings gained 0.4%
* Futures up: Dow 0.34%, S&P 0.37%, Nasdaq 0.29%

By Uday Sampath Kumar
Sept 6 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were set to open higher on
Friday as China rolled out a stimulus plan to shore up its
flagging economy and weak jobs data cemented expectations of an
interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve later this month.
China's central bank said it would reduce the amount of cash
that banks must hold as reserves, releasing a total of 900
billion yuan ($126.35 billion) in liquidity. Stock index futures initially pared gains after the Labor
Department's nonfarm payroll data showed that the U.S. economy
added 130,000 jobs in August, below expectations of a gain of
158,000, according to a Reuters survey of economists. However, they recovered quickly as the data did not change
expectations on the path of rate cuts this year, with traders
betting that the Federal Reserve would follow July's
interest-rate reduction with two more rate cuts this year.
"The market is going to be in this weird state of bad news
is good news," said Nela Richardson, investment strategist at
Edward Jones in St Louis. "This low number points in the
direction of a cut later in the month. Every piece of data now
leads to the Fed."
Market participants are currently expecting a quarter
percentage point cut at the Fed's mid-September meeting. They
will look for further clues on the monetary policy when Fed
Chairman Jerome Powell speaks at the University of Zurich later
on Friday.
The employment report showed average hourly earnings gained
0.4% last month, the largest increase since February.
This comes after a clutch of economic data from earlier this
week provided mixed views on the U.S. economy amid the drama of
a drawn-out trade war with China.
Data showing a contraction in U.S. factory activity in
August dampened markets on Tuesday, but diffusing political
tensions in Hong Kong and hopes of a de-escalation in U.S.-China
trade tensions helped boost stocks to one-month highs later in
the week.
Markets were also driven on Thursday by strong growth in
private payrolls and an accelerating services sector, with the
benchmark S&P 500 .SPX rising 1.3% and closing just 1.75% away
from its record high in July.
At 9:08 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 90 points, or
0.34%. S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 11 points, or 0.37% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 23 points, or 0.29%.
Among stocks, Marathon Oil MRO.N was down about 2% after
Goldman Sachs cut its price target on the stock. Facebook Inc
FB.O also fell marginally following a Wall Street Journal
report that state attorneys general are formally launching
separate antitrust probes into the company.
Demand for riskier assets pushed gold price lower by about
1%. Shares of gold miners such as Newmont Goldcorp NEM.N and
Barrick Gold Corp GOLD.N fell between 1% and 1.5%.