What To Expect From Non Farm Payrolls Today at 13:30 GMT

U.S. stock index futures indicated a flat open on Friday morning as traders eyed the release of a host of data.

Nonfarm payrolls, the unemployment rate, average hourly wages and the U.S trade deficit are all set to come out at 13:30 GMT non-manufacturing data and factory orders are set to be released at 15:00 GMT.

The jobs report is the most important piece of data before the Fed next meets on June 14 and 15, but a soft number is not what would discourage the Fed from raising rates.

The futures market is pricing in higher expectations for July, and some economists expect the Fed to raise rates later in the summer or even the second half of the year because of the June 23 U.K. vote on exiting the European Union.

In an interview with CNBC on Friday, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said that the timing of a rate hike was "not really that important."

"Two rate hikes in 2016, that's my own call for that, if the data continue to be in line with my outlook, that's a slow and gradual increase this year," Evans, who is an alternate member of the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee), said.

"Timing's not really that important, you mentioned possibly two summer hikes, that would be a little bit more than I'd say is … priced in to the dots certainly and the market expectations," Evans added.

"Timing's not really that critical for my viewpoint, as long as by the end of this year we're at just a little under 1 percent," Evans added.

Elsewhere, Fed Governor Lael Brainard is set to give a speech on economic outlook and monetary policy at 12:30 p.m. ET.

In oil markets, Brent crude traded at $50.02 a barrel on Friday, up 0.02 percent, while U.S. crude was at $49.11, down 0.14 percent.

The pan European Stoxx 600 Index was up 0.6 percent on Friday.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei  closed 0.48 percent higher on Friday. In China, the Shanghai Composite closed 0.44 percent higher.

Source: cnbc.com