US STOCKS-Futures little changed before data

                                
 * Jobless claims, Chicago PMI, pending home sales on tap
                                
 * China manufacturing dips
                                
 * Futures off: Dow 8 pts, S&P 1.7 pts, Nasdaq 1 pt
                                
 * For up-to-the-minute market news see [STXNEWS/US]
                                
 By Chuck Mikolajczak
                                
 NEW YORK, Dec 30 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were
little changed on Thursday as investors awaited economic data
for insight on the strength of the economic recovery heading
into 2011.
                                
 On the penultimate trading day of the year, the S&P 500
<.SPX> is headed for its best December in nearly two decades.
The index has gained 6.7 percent so far this month, closing on
Wednesday at its highest level since Sept. 8, 2008, and has
risen in 17 of the last 20 sessions.
                                
 Data on Thursday includes weekly jobless claims at 8:30
a.m. (1330 GMT], which is expected to show initial claims fell
to 415,000 from 420,000 the previous week. Pending home sales
for November are expected at 10 a.m. [1500 GMT], and are
expected to show a 1.5 percent rise.
                                
 "Jobless claims will have some impact if it's an outlier
because the market is so thin," said Rick Meckler, president of
investment firm LibertyView Capital Management, in New York.
                                
 "But there are lots of reasons to look at jobless reports
this time of year and see them as very seasonal."
                                
 The Chicago Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), due at 9:45
a.m. (1445 GMT), is expected to have dipped a bit in the
December reading, with analysts forecasting a drop to 61.0 from
62.5 the month before.
                                
 S&P 500 futures <SPc1> shed 1.7 points and were slightly
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>
lost 8 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures <NDc1> dipped 1 point.
                                
 During Asian trading hours overnight, a survey on Chinese
manufacturing showed inflation could be cresting, an early
indication that the government will be able to stick to its
course of gradual rather than aggressive monetary tightening.
[ID:nTOE6BT01J]
                                
 Volume is expected to remain tepid in light of the holiday
season and the recent blizzard which blanketed the U.S.
Northeast. The storm postponed about $1 billion in holiday
retail sales by keeping shoppers away from stores in the days
after Christmas, research firm ShopperTrak said. For details,
see [nN29280698]
                                
 In U.S. corporate news, U.S. health regulators have
approved Endo Pharmaceuticals Holding Inc <ENDP.O> and
ProStrakan Group PLC's <PSK.L> Fortesta testosterone gel to
treat men with low levels of the hormone. [ID:nN29289264]
                                
 Lockheed Martin Corp <LMT.N> and the U.S. unit of
Australia's Austal Ltd <ASB.AX> won U.S. Navy contracts
potentially worth more than $3.5 billion each to design and
build up to a combined total of 20 coastal combat ships through
2015. [ID:nN29290028]
                                
 Elsewhere, Japanese stocks ended the year with a whimper on
Thursday as a stronger yen knocked down shares of major
exporters, but other markets in Asia rose, cementing solid
gains for 2010 led by a near 50 percent rally for Indonesia.
[ID:nLDE6BT09T]
                                
 European equities hit their lowest level in more than a
week on Thursday as a drop in crude oil prices dragged down
energy shares, while a fall in HSBC's China Purchasing
Managers' Index hurt market sentiment. [.EU]
                                
 (Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak, Editing by Chizu
Nomiyama)