S&P 500 stock index futures briefly pared gains on Thursday following a government report showing the number of U.S. workers continuing to claim jobless benefits jumped to a record in the first week of February.

The data underscored the toll of the deepening recession on the labor market, and presented a hurdle for stocks attempting to bounce from three-month lows.

S&P 500 futures rose 8.90 points, and were above 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 climbed 61 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 10 points.

(Reporting by Ellis Mnyandu; Editing by James Dalgleish)

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