(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock

markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window.)

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Weekly jobless claims at 232,000 vs 230,000 est.

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Business activity surveys awaited at 9:45 a.m. ET

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Charles Schwab ( SCHW ) falls as TD Bank to trim stake

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Zoom gains on lifting FY revenue forecast

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Futures up: Dow 0.04%, S&P 500 0.14%, Nasdaq 0.25%

(Updated at 8:45 a.m. ET/ 1245 GMT)

By Shashwat Chauhan and Johann M Cherian

Aug 22 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes eyed a

higher open on Thursday, as investors were more hopeful the

Federal Reserve would kick off its interst rate cut cycle next

month, while awaiting policymakers' commentary at Jackson Hole

this week.

Expectations of a rate cut got a boost after minutes from

the U.S. central bank's latest meeting showed on Wednesday a

"vast majority" of officials said such an action was likely.

The much-awaited Jackson Hole Economic Symposium kicks off

on Thursday. Fed chair Powell is slated to deliver his remarks

on the second day of the event.

Money markets currently see a nearly 70% chance of an at

least 25-basis-point (bps) cut in September, as per the CME

FedWatch Tool, and about 100 bps of easing by December,

according to LSEG data.

Wall Street's main indexes closed slightly higher in the

previous session, with the S&P 500 notching its ninth

session of gains out of 10, after data showed U.S. employers

added far fewer jobs than originally reported in the year

through March.

Kansas City Fed President Jeff Schmid, one of the U.S.

central bank's more hawkish policymakers, said he was taking a

closer look at the dynamics behind the rise in the unemployment

rate and would let data guide him on whether to support a rate

cut next month.

Meanwhile, the number of Americans filing new applications

for unemployment benefits rose in the latest week, but the level

still suggested easing labor market conditions.

"The labor market is cooling off, but the real question is,

to what extent? We should (wait) for the unemployment numbers

for August and then see if the Fed is going to respond in a more

forceful way," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at

Spartan Capital Securities.

Preliminary estimates of August U.S. business activity are

due at 9:45 a.m. ET.

At 08:45 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 16 points, or

0.04%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 8 points, or 0.14% and

Nasdaq 100 E-minis were up 49.25 points, or 0.25%.

Among individual stocks, data cloud analytics firm Snowflake

raised its forecast for full-year product revenue.

Still, Snowflake's shares were down 9.9% in premarket trading,

with analysts attributing the drop to the company not pairing

the climb in revenue projections with a rise in margin forecast.

Paramount Global ( PARAA ) gained 1.6% after a source told

Reuters that veteran media executive Edgar Bronfman has

sweetened his bid to take over the company, offering $6 billion

for its controlling shareholder National Amusements and a

minority stake in Paramount.

Shares of Charles Schwab ( SCHW ) were down 3.2% after

Canada's TD Bank Group said it would sell part of its

stake in the brokerage firm.

Zoom Video Communications ( ZM ) added 1.6% after raising

its annual revenue forecast, driven by strong demand for its

AI-powered collaboration tools deployed in hybrid work models,

while Advanced Auto Parts slid 20.9% after trimming its

annual profit forecast.

(Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Johann M Cherian in

Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Shinjini

Ganguli)