US STOCKS-Futures point to modestly lower open after payrolls

* Futures erase heavy early losses

* Payroll report comes in below forecasts

* P&G, Tesla both rise in premarket after results

* Futures down: Dow 28 pts, S&P 3 pts, Nasdaq 4.5 pts (Adds payroll report, comments)

By Ryan Vlastelica

NEW YORK, Aug 1 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures pointed to a slightly lower open on Friday as a weak July jobs report allayed concerns that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates sooner than many had expected.

* Futures had dropped sharply earlier in the session, but pared much of their losses following the report that 209,000 jobs had been created in July, below the 233,000 that had been expected.

* On Thursday, Wall Street suffered its biggest one-day decline in months as data sparked worries the U.S. Federal Reserve could raise interest rates sooner than expected. Higher rates would raise borrowing costs for individuals and companies and crimp spending.

* The Fed has kept overnight rates near zero since December 2008, but at its meeting Wednesday it took note of faster economic growth and a decline in the unemployment rate, while expressing concern about remaining slack in the labor market.

* The jobs report "won't force the Fed to raise rates any time soon, and given all the fear that was out there yesterday, it makes sense to me that futures would come back so strongly," said Mark Grant, managing director at Southwest Securities in Fort Lauderdale.

* S&P 500 e-mini futures fell 3 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract, indicating a lower open. Dow Jones industrial average e-mini futures fell 28 points and Nasdaq 100 e-mini futures lost 4.5 points.

* Thursday's decline was the biggest one-day drop for the S&P since April, and it erased July's gains for the S&P, Nasdaq and Dow, which also turned negative for the year. The S&P closed under its 50-day moving average for the first time since April 15, a sign of weak near-term trends.

* For the week, the Dow is down 2.3 percent, the S&P is down 2.4 percent and the Nasdaq is down 1.8 percent. It is the biggest weekly decline for all three since April.

* Procter & Gamble Co reported core earnings that topped expectations, though net sales fell 1 percent. Shares (Frankfurt: DI6.F - news) of the Dow component rose 2.2 percent to $79 in premarket trading.

* Chevron Corp reported second-quarter earnings that rose 6 percent. Shares of the Dow component were slightly higher in premarket trading.

* Scientific Games Corp rose 24 percent to $10.60 in premarket trading after it said it would buy Balley Technologies Inc for $3.27 billion. Balley jumped 32 percent to $79.40 before the bell.

* Electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc (Xetra: A1CX3T - news) posted second-quarter revenue that nearly doubled from the prior year, while its adjusted earnings topped expectations. Shares rose 1.8 percent to $227 in premarket trading.

* GoPro Inc (Xetra: A1XE7G - news) tumbled 10 percent to $43.15 before the bell, a day after reporting a bigger second-quarter net loss, pressured by rising costs.

* Traders await the final July read on manufacturing from financial data firm Markit (NasdaqGS: MRKT - news) , due at 9:45 a.m. (1345 GMT), as well as the final July read on consumer sentiment from the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers, due 10 minutes later and seen rising to 82 from 81.3.

* At 10:00 a.m., the Institute for Supply Management's read on July manufacturing is due and is seen rising slightly, while June construction spending is seen rising 0.5 percent. (Editing by Bernadette Baum)