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Futures up: S&P 500 0.06%, Nasdaq 0.11%, Dow 0.07%

July 3 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures held steady

on Thursday as investors awaited the monthly jobs report for

insights on the health of the labor market and the Federal

Reserve's plans for monetary easing.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at record highs

after Wednesday's choppy session, boosted by gains in technology

stocks and a trade agreement between the United States and

Vietnam that eased concerns about prolonged trade tensions.

The blue-chip Dow closed 1.3% below all-time highs

touched in December.

All eyes are on the nonfarm payrolls report for June, which

is scheduled to be released at 8:30 a.m. ET (1230 GMT) - a day

ahead of schedule because the U.S. markets are closed on July 4

for Independence Day. Trading volumes are expected to be light,

with markets closing early, at 1 p.m. ET on Thursday.

The data is expected to show the U.S. labor market slowed

further in June, with the unemployment rate expected to have

edged up to more than a three-and-a-half-year high of 4.3%, as

economic uncertainty stemming from the Trump administration's

policies curbed hiring.

"Chair (Jerome) Powell, leading the camp for the Fed to keep

rates on hold, argues that sticky inflation and a solid labor

market mean that the policy rate should be kept mildly

restrictive," ING analysts said in a note.

"Clearly, any downside surprise in the jobs report would

weaken his (Powell's) position and allow the market to push on

with pricing a rate cut at the July meeting."

Traders are attaching a 25% chance of the U.S. Federal

Reserve cutting rates at the July meeting, according to CME

Group's Fedwatch tool, up from about 20% a week ago.

U.S. stocks dipped briefly on Wednesday after data showed

private payrolls fell in June for the first time in more than

two years.

Other economic data on Thursday includes weekly jobless

claims and the S&P Global and ISM services sector activity

readings for June.

Meanwhile, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives

advanced President Donald Trump's massive tax-cut and spending

bill toward a final yes-or-no vote, appearing to overcome

internal party divisions over its cost.

The legislation is expected to add $3.4 trillion to the

nation's $36.2 trillion in debt over the next decade, according

to nonpartisan analysts.

By 5:49 a.m. ET (0949 GMT), S&P 500 e-minis were up

4 points, or 0.06%, Nasdaq 100 e-minis climbed 24.25

points, or 0.11%, and Dow e-minis added 30 points, or

0.07%.

Shares of chip design software firms Synopsys ( SNPS ) and

Cadence Design Systems ( CDNS ) climbed 6.7% and 5.9%,

respectively, in premarket trading after the U.S. lifted export

restrictions on chip design software to China, signaling a thaw

in trade tensions between the world's top two economies.

Tripadvisor ( TRIP ) climbed 4.9% after the Wall Street

Journal reported activist investor Starboard Value had built a

more than 9% stake in the online travel firm.

Datadog ( DDOG ) jumped 10.2% after the cloud security firm

was set to replace Juniper Networks on the S&P 500.