US STOCKS-Futures flat as investors look to jobs, orders data

                                
 * ADP private labor market report on tap
                                
 * BP in "giant" oil find in Gulf of Mexico
                                
 * Futures: Dow down 3 pts, S&P down 0.5, Nasdaq off 2.50
                                
 * For up-to-the-minute market news, click STXNEWS/US
                                
 (Updates with Challenger data)
                                
 By Edward Krudy
                                
 NEW YORK, Sept 2 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were
flat on Wednesday ahead of private labor market data seen as a
precursor to a key government monthly jobs report later in the
week, which investors will keenly await after a three-day slide
in stocks.
                                
  Economists polled by Reuters are looking for a loss of
250,000 jobs in August compared with a 371,000 loss in July
when the ADP jobs report is released at 8.30 a.m. (12:30 GMT).
A separate, earlier report showed planned layoffs by U.S. firms
fell 21 percent in August.
                                
 BP Plc <BP.N> rose 4 percent to $52.49 in premarket New
York trading after the company said it had made a "giant" oil
discovery in an area that has assumed increasing importance for
Western oil majors. For details, see [ID:nL2530648].
                                
 Shares on ConocoPhillips <COP.N>, which has an 18 percent
working interest in BP's Tiber Prospect, rose 1.2 percent in
premarket trade. Exxon Mobil Corp <XOM.N> rose 0.6 percent.
                                
 "We will be looking at the ... ADP number, which tends to
be a precursor to the change in the nonfarm payroll number at
the end of the week," said Art Hogan, chief market analyst at
Jefferies & Co in New York.
                                
 "British Petroleum has made a discovery in the Gulf of
Mexico, and they actually define that as being great, so I
think that is going to catch some headlines as we work our way
through the day."
                                
 S&P 500 futures <SPc1>  fell 0.5 points and were 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 <DJc1> were down
3 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures <NDc1> dropped 2.50 points.
                                
 U.S. indexes fell 2 percent on Tuesday on uncertainty over
the health of banks. Some investors fear the market rally of 50
percent since March has run ahead of economic realities and are
predicting a pullback in prices. September is also a
traditionally weak month for stocks.
                                
 Indexes mostly fell in Europe and Asia on Wednesday, but
China's key stock index <.SSEC> closed 1.2 percent higher, led
by the banking sector. In Europe the FTSE Eurofirst 300
<.FTEU3> fell 0.6 percent.
                                
  There will be a number of releases throughout the day,
culminating with the Federal Open Market Committee meeting
minutes at 2 p.m., which are closely followed for an insight
into the Federal Reserve's thinking on the economy.
                                
 The U.S. Labor Department releases revised Q2 productivity
and unit labor costs at 8.30 a.m. Economists in a Reuters
survey forecast a rise of 6.4 percent in productivity and a 5.8
percent fall in unit labor costs, unchanged from the previous
month.
                                
 Following that, the Commerce Department releases July
factory orders at 10 a.m. Economists in a Reuters survey expect
an increase of 2.2 percent compared with a 0.4 percent rise in
June.
  (Reporting by Edward Krudy; Editing by Padraic Cassidy)