Wall Street stocks were set to rise at the open on Thursday as stronger labor market and manufacturing data lifted sentiment after three days of losses, while higher quarterly profit from FedEx also boosted equity futures.

New applications for unemployment insurance fell to a 3-1/2 year low, suggesting a job market recovery was gaining speed, while a gauge of New York state manufacturing activity rose to its highest level since May.

It all speaks to further stabilization and a very positive trend in the U.S. economy, said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital in Jersey City, New Jersey.

It will give a bid to U.S. equity markets and make EU markets look relatively less attractive.

FedEx Corp shares were up 4 percent to $80.34 in premarket trading after the package delivery group, seen as a bellwether of economic activity, reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit.

S&P 500 futures rose 12.2 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 jumped 119 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 22.25 points.

Spain saw bond yields fall in a well-received auction, raising roughly twice what the government had targeted.

Equity markets have lately tracked European bond prices, using them as a gauge of risk appetite.

Novellus Systems Inc jumped 23 percent to $42.70 premarket a day after larger rival Lam Research Corp agreed to buy it for $3.3 billion in stock.

Michael Kors Holdings Ltd said Wednesday it raised the size of its initial public offering and priced the stock at $20 per share, above the expected range.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)