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* Obama to seek congressional authorization for Syria action
* Verizon falls in premarket, agrees to deal with Vodafone
* Nokia ADRs soar in premarket on deal with Microsoft
* Futures up: Dow 105 pts, S&P 14.7 pts, Nasdaq 21 pts
By Ryan Vlastelica
NEW YORK, Sept 3 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures jumpedon Tuesday after U.S. President Barack Obama opted to seekcongressional authorization for military action against Syria, amove that was likely to delay any strike.
* Equities have recently been pressured by the prospect of aWestern strike against Syria after chemical weapons were used tokill civilians. The geopolitical uncertainty contributed tosteep losses in August, which marked the worst month for the S&P500 since May 2012.
* Congress returns from its summer recess on Sept. 9, andany vote to authorize a strike will come after that. While Obamahas been pushing Congress to back his plan, passage is by nomeans certain, further easing concerns over an imminent strike.
* U.S. crude futures dipped 0.4 percent. Oil spiked2.5 percent in August, with the increase largely driven byconcerns that military action in the Middle East would impactcrude supplies.
* Verizon Communications agreed on Monday to pay $130billion to buy Vodafone Group out of its U.S.wireless business, bringing an end to an often tense 14-yearmarriage.
* Shares of Verizon, a Dow component, fell 2.9 percent inpremarket trading while U.S. shares of Vodafone lost 1.3 percentto $31.92.
* Also in deal news, Nokia Corp agreed to sell itshandset business to Microsoft Corp for $7.2 billion,sending its U.S. shares up 41 percent to $5.50 before the bell.Microsoft fell 2.1 percent to $32.70.
* S&P 500 futures rose 14.7 points and were abovefair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking intoaccount interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on thecontract. Dow Jones industrial average futures added 105points and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 21 points.
* The U.S. stock market was closed on Monday for Labor Dayand trading volume could continue its recent trend of beinglight with many traders away for the holiday.
* In the S&P, investors will be watching the 100-day movingaverage at 1,639.42, which the index has been unable to closeabove since Aug. 26. Holding over that level would be a positivesign of near-term momentum.
* While the uncertainty related to Syria has been themarket's primary driver in recent sessions, investors will alsopay close attention to the latest economic data, which couldprovide some insight into when the U.S. Federal Reserve willbegin to slow its monetary stimulus program.
* The Institute for Supply Management's August manufacturingsector data is due at 10 a.m. (1400 GMt) with analysts expectingthe main index fall to 54 from 55.4 last month. Julyconstruction spending is also scheduled for release at 10 a.m.,and is seen rising 0.3 percent.
* CBS Corp on Monday reached an agreement with TimeWarner Cable Inc to end a month-long blackout of itsstations in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas. Financial terms ofthe deal were not disclosed.
* H&R Block is the only S&P 500 company scheduled toreport quarterly results on Tuesday.
* Wall Street stocks have been coming off an extended periodof weakness, with all three major indexes falling more than 1percent last week and notching steep losses in August.
