US STOCKS-Wall St set to open higher on surprise drop in unemployment rate

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* May unemployment rate drops to 13.3% as layoffs abate
* Boeing jumps on hopes of pickup in air travel
* Novavax up on U.S. defense funding for COVID-19 vaccine
* Futures up: Dow 2.40%, S&P 500 1.52%, Nasdaq 0.05%

(Adds comments, updates prices throughout)
By Devik Jain
June 5 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and Dow Jones indexes were
set to jump at the open on Friday after a closely watched report
showed a surprise drop in the U.S. unemployment rate, lending
weight to hopes of a faster economic rebound from a
coronavirus-driven slump.
The unemployment rate unexpectedly fell to 13.3% in May from
14.7% in April and layoffs abated, the Labor Department said on
Friday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast the jobless
rate jumping to 19.8%. Interest-rate sensitive stocks including Bank of America
Corp BAC.N , Citigroup Inc C.N and JPMorgan Chase & Co
JPM.N jumped between 3.8% and 8.8% as U.S. Treasury yields
rose after the data. US/
"This is completely out of expectations," said Subadra
Rajappa, head of U.S. rates strategy in Societe Generale, New
York.
"This is a tremendously positive step in the right
direction, and probably points to a faster recovery, at least in
the jobs market, than people had expected."
Wall Street has rebounded sharply from a coronavirus-driven
crash in March as investors bet on a revival in business
activity following the easing of a nationwide lockdown.
The Nasdaq Composite .IXIC , S&P 500 .SPX and Dow Jones
.DJI indexes are now down about 2%, 8%, and 11% from their
respective all-time highs.
At 8:56 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis 1YMcv1 were up 630 points, or
2.4%, S&P 500 e-minis EScv1 were up 47.25 points, or 1.52% and
Nasdaq 100 e-minis NQcv1 were up 4.75 points, or 0.05%.
Boeing Co BA.N gained 8.0% premarket on hopes of a pickup
in air travel a day after American Airlines Group Inc AAL.O
and United Airlines UAL.O said they would boost their U.S.
flight schedule next month. American Airlines surged 27.3% and
United Airlines jumped 20.6%.
Fears of more disruptions from social unrest have also eased
in the past two days, with the largely peaceful protests against
the killing of a black man in police custody waning into Friday
morning and emergency curfews in many cities being lifted.
Vaccine maker Novavax Inc NVAX.O jumped 10% after saying
it would receive up to $60 million from the U.S. Department of
Defense to fund manufacturing of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
Apparel retailer Gap Inc GPS.N gained 2.1% even as it
reported a quarterly loss of nearly $1 billion due to
coronavirus-induced store closures.