Stock futures rise ahead of Yellen's speech,

(Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were higher on Friday, a day after the S&P 500 ended at an all-time high and ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's take on the economy that investors will peruse for clues on the timing of a rate hike.

* Yellen's speech at 1:00 p.m. ET (1700 GMT) is expected to acknowledge the recent economic sluggishness, including near stagnant performance in the first few months of the year.

* Before Yellen takes the podium, data is expected to show that consumer prices rose for a third straight month in April, signaling a rise in inflation, which could keep the Fed on

track to raise rates. The Consumer Price Index data is due at 8:30 a.m. ET (1230 GMT).

* The S&P 500 <.SPX> ended at 2,130.82 on Thursday, barely beating its previous record close of 2,129.2 from Monday.

* While the Dow and the S&P are near record levels this week, trading has stayed in a narrow range and volumes have been subdued as the quarterly earnings season draws to a close.

* Aeropostale slumped 22.8 percent to $2 in premarket trading after the teen apparel retailer estimated a bigger-than-expected quarterly loss.

* ELong soared 35.8 percent to $28.04 after Expedia said it sold its entire stake in the Chinese online travel company to rival Ctrip.com and others. Ctrip was up 4.9 percent at $75.50.

* Foot Locker was up 3.9 percent at $66.10 and Deere & Co rose 1.8 percent to $91.05 after the companies posted better-than-expected quarterly profits.

* BlackBerry shares rose 2.2 percent to $10.50 on the smartphone maker's plans to buy back stock.

Futures snapshot at 7:24 a.m. ET (1124 GMT): * S&P 500 e-minis were up 0.5 points, or 0.02 percent, with 57,049 contracts traded. * Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 3.5 points, or 0.08 percent, on volume of 7,831 contracts. * Dow e-minis <1YMc1> were up 14 points, or 0.08 percent, with 12,980 contracts changing hands.

(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

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