US STOCKS-Futures higher as earnings pour in; claims data on tap

* Earnings due from Exxon, 3M Co

* Verizon looking at bid for Verizon Wireless - sources

* Futures up: Dow 52 pts, S&P 5 pts, Nasdaq 11 pts

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK, April 25 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futuresadvanced on Thursday, ahead of a raft of earnings, includingthose of ExxonMobil and 3M Co, along with data on the labormarket.

* Dow component ExxonMobil Corp, the largest U.S.company by market capitalization is due to report its results, aday after the company boosted its quarterly dividend.

* Fellow Dow component 3M Co is also due to report,along with Amazon.com Inc, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Harley-Davidson and Starbucks.

* Data on the labor market is due at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230GMT) with the release of weekly initial jobless claims data.Economists in a Reuters survey forecast a total of 351,000 newfilings compared with 352,000 in the prior week.

* Verizon Communications Inc will be in focus aftersources told Reuters it has hired advisers to prepare a possible$100 billion cash and stock bid to take full control of VerizonWireless from joint venture partner, Vodafone Group Plc.

* S&P 500 futures rose 5 points and were above fairvalue, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into accountinterest rates, dividends and time to expiration of thecontract. Dow Jones industrial average futures added 52points and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 1 points.

* PulteGroup Inc, the No. 2 U.S. homebuilder,returned to a quarterly profit after reporting a loss a yearearlier, as it benefited from low mortgage rates.

* Akami Technologies Inc surged 19.5 percent to$43.12 in premarket trading after the internet content deliverycompany forecast second-quarter results above analysts'expectations late on Wednesday.

* Earnings season has been largely positive, with 68.4percent of S&P 500 companies that have reported results so farbeating expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data throughTuesday morning. Since 1994, 63 percent have surpassed estimateson average, while the beat rate is 67 percent for the past fourquarters.

* Analysts see earnings growth of 3.1 percent this quarter,up from expectations of 1.5 percent at the start of the month.

* European shares paused after four straight sessions ofgains, on the back of disappointing earnings reports fromSantander and Unilever.

* Asian shares rose, with recovering commodities and viewsthat a run of weak global economic data will encourage majorcentral banks to keep or deepen their monetary stimulusimproving risk sentiment.