Wall St. set for rebound; Facebook surges after earnings

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street was set for a slightly higher open on Thursday after data showed robust household spending and rising exports helped the U.S. economy to grow 3.2 percent in the fourth quarter.

* The market was poised to rebound after a 1-percent drop in key indexes Wednesday, following the Federal Reserve's decision to continue paring stimulus despite a selloff in emerging markets.

* Gross domestic product grew at a 3.2 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Thursday, in line with expectations. But market sentiment was still cautious on ongoing turmoil in emerging markets.

* Facebook Inc shares jumped nearly 19 percent in premarket trading. The social media company delivered its strongest revenue growth in two years a day earlier, beating Wall Street targets.

* Central banks around the globe stepped in again as emerging market currencies declined. The Russian rouble hit record lows against the euro on Thursday, and currencies in South Africa and Hungary hit multi-year troughs in the latest wave of an emerging market asset sell-off threatening global economic stability. India's finance ministry said the country would take any steps necessary to ensure financial market calm.

* In the U.S., S&P 500 e-mini futures rose 5.5 points and were above/below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 43 points and Nasdaq 100 futures added 14 points.

* The S&P 500 was down about 4 percent for the month, its worst monthly loss since May 2012. Some investors have been bracing for a correction, after the S&P 500's dramatic advance of 30 percent last year.

* In other earnings, Visa Inc shares rose nearly 4 percent in premarket trading after the world's largest credit and debit card company, reported a 9 percent rise in quarterly profit as more people used its cards.

* Google Inc shares rose 2.7 percent in premarket trading, a day after Lenovo Group <0992.HK> said it would buy the internet search giant's Motorola handset division for $2.91 billion.

* The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, but the underlying trend suggested the labor market continued to heal.

* Global equities hit 2-1/2 month lows on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve pushed ahead with reducing stimulus, raising concern about more emerging markets weakness and pushing investors towards safe-haven bonds.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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