* Economy concerns weigh on stocks
* HP, Dell report higher profits after bell
* Futures down: Dow 42 pts, S&P 500 5.8 pts, Nasdaq 5.50
* For up-to-the-minute market news see []
(Updates market activity)
By Edward Krudy
NEW YORK, Aug 20 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures fell
on Friday, tracking global equity markets lower as
weaker-than-expected economic data reinforced fears of a
faltering recovery.
U.S. stocks tumbled to their lowest close in nearly a month
Thursday after anemic labor market and manufacturing reports
indicated the recovery was losing momentum.
"Basically growth is just not there," said Dave Rovelli, a
trader at Canaccord Adams in New York. "Until this
administration figures out how to get people hired, we are
going to be seeing a lot of these big up days, big down days,
and the market's going to be all over the place."
Futures traded erratically, with S&P 500 futures falling
more than 7 points in early trade, but came off their lows as
the morning progressed.
S&P 500 futures <SPc1> were down 5.8 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. Dow Jones industrial average futures <DJc1> dropped
42 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures <NDc1> lost 5.50 points.
Despite declines in the last session, short-term support
held, with the S&P 500 index bouncing off the 1,070 level,
which represented last week's low. If the index falls through
that point, the next potential support level is around 1,060.
Japan's Nikkei average <> closed down 2 percent, hit
by the weak U.S. data, which also sent the dollar slipping back
toward a 15-year low.
European stocks <> dipped 0.8 percent, off for the
third straight day, while world stocks as measured by MSCI
<.MIWD00000PUS> were also down 1 percent.
Natural resource stocks were likely to come under pressure
again as U.S. crude oil futures fell 1.2 percent toward $73 per
barrel. Copper fell on renewed risk aversion as investors
sought perceived safe-haven assets.
Technology bellwethers Dell Inc <DELL.O> and
Hewlett-Packard Co <HPQ.N> posted higher profits after the
closing bell Thursday, reporting broad-based strength from
corporate customers and only hints of weakness from consumers.
For details, see []
JM Smucker Co <SJM.N>, the maker of Jif peanut butter and
Folgers coffee, posted quarterly profit of 86 cents per share
early Friday versus the estimate. []
Hormel Foods Corp <HRL.N>, maker of Spam lunch meat,
reported quarterly earnings of 63 cents per share.
[]
(Reporting by Edward Krudy; editing by W Simon and Jeffrey
Benkoe)
