By Ryan Vlastelica
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were higher on Friday as investors looked ahead to a jobs report that was expected to sharply rebound from the previous month, though indexes were on track for a second straight weekly decline.
* The September payroll report, due at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT), is seen showing 215,000 jobs added in the month, up from 142,000 in August. As well, the jobless rate probably held at a six-year low, which could support bets that the Federal Reserve will raise rates in mid-2015.
* Equities have been volatile of late. Over the past 250 sessions, the S&P 500 posted an average daily move of 14.7 points, which it has topped each day in the past seven sessions. The benchmark index fell as much as 1 percent on Thursday, at one point dropping under its 150-day moving average - a level it had not breached since November 2012 - before rebounding sharply. It closed little changed.
* For the week, the Dow is down 1.8 percent, the S&P is down 1.9 percent and the Nasdaq is down 1.8 percent. It is the second straight weekly decline for all three. The CBOE Volatility index <.VIX>, a measure of investor anxiety, is up about 30 percent over the past two weeks, though at 16.16 on Friday, it remains below its long-term average of 20.
* The week's losses were largely driven by news of the first diagnosis of a patient with Ebola in the United States. Protests in Hong Kong added to the tension, with investors worried a protracted period of unrest would weigh on growth in both Hong Kong and China.
* The leader of Hong Kong, Leung Chun-ying, agreed to open talks with the pro-democracy activists, a move that was taken as a sign of progress, though he refused to stand down and violence continued in the city.
* In company news, a Swiss newspaper reported that UBS
Futures snapshot at 0648 EDT:
* S&P 500 e-minis
* Nasdaq 100 e-minis
* Dow e-minis <1YMc1> were up 55 points, or 0.33 percent, with 16,433 contracts changing hands.
(Editing by Bernadette Baum)
