July 3 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stock-index futures gained on speculation the Federal Reserve will hold off raising interest rates after a government report showed a decrease in jobs for a sixth straight month.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. led an advance in financial shares as traders boosted bets that the central bank won't increase its benchmark lending rate at its August meeting. Nvidia Corp. tumbled, limiting gains in technology stocks, after the second-biggest maker of computer- graphics chips said slowing demand and increased competition will hurt revenue.

Futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index expiring in September added 10.2, or 0.8 percent, to 1,273 at 9:05 a.m. in New York. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures jumped 71 to 11,282 and Nasdaq-100 Index futures rose 10.25 to 1,835.25.

``There's no way the Fed is going to increase interest rates while we're losing jobs,'' said Michael Mullaney, a Boston-based portfolio manager at Fiduciary Trust Co., which manages $10 billion. ``We're definitely positioning our portfolios to take advantage of at least a benign Fed.''

Fed funds futures trading showed 80 percent odds that policy makers will keep the central bank's benchmark interest rate at 2 percent next month, up from a 75 percent chance yesterday. Payrolls fell by 62,000 last month after a 62,000 drop in May that was greater than initially reported, the Labor Department said. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast a decrease of 60,000 jobs. The jobless rate remained at 5.5 percent.

Banks Gain

JPMorgan, the third-biggest U.S. bank, added 39 cents to $34.75. Citigroup, the largest, gained 21 cents to $17.05. Goldman, the largest U.S. securities firm, rose $2 to $180.79.

Nvidia sank $3.89 to $14.14 in Germany. Sales this quarter will decline to $875 million to $975 million, according to the company. In May, Nvidia said revenue would drop 5 percent from the previous period's $1.15 billion, or to about $1.1 billion.

Exxon Mobil Corp., the biggest U.S. energy company, jumped 30 cents to $87.71 after oil climbed to a record above $145 a barrel in New York.

Stocks tumbled yesterday after oil rose to a record and steelmakers and coal producers retreated on concern the economic slump will worsen. The 30-stock Dow average extended its decline from the October record to more than the 20 percent, the first time since 2002 the gauge has closed below the threshold that signals a so-called bear market.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Patterson in New York at mpatterson10@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 3, 2008 09:06 EDT