* Retail sales, PPI data eyed
* U.S. in talks with Citigroup about stake sale-report
* Futures up: S&P by 1 pt, Dow 10 pts, Nasdaq 0.75
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Sept 15 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were
flat on Tuesday as investors awaited key economic data,
including the retail sales report, for more evidence of an
economic recovery.
The U.S. Commerce Department is to release August retail
sales, with economists polled by Reuters expecting a 2.0
percent rise compared with a 0.1 percent fall in July.
Excluding automobiles, sales are seen up 0.4 percent, compared
with a 0.6 percent decrease the prior month.
Also, the Labor Department will release August producer
price index (PPI) data. Economists look for an 0.8 percent
increase compared with a 0.9 percent decrease in July.
Excluding volatile food and energy items, PPI is seen up 0.1
percent, compared with a 0.1 percent drop the prior month.
An uptick in consumer spending is seen as crucial for any
economic recovery to continue.
"Investors are definitely looking for the beginnings of
some strength there, given the back to school season and some
clues as to what Christmas might be like," said Rick Meckler,
president of investment firm LibertyView Capital Management in
New York.
"We continue to wait for this sort of return to normalized
retail sales, and the longer it stays at depressed levels, the
more people are going to question whether the new normal is in
the lower number."
S&P 500 futures <SPc2> rose 1 point 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 <DJc2> gained 10
points, and Nasdaq 100 <NDc2> futures were up 0.75 points.
MasterCard Inc's <MA.N> finance chief said the volume of
transactions processed fell 8 percent in July and August in the
United States, signaling consumers are using less credit to
make purchases. For details see []
The U.S. Treasury Department is talking to Citigroup Inc
<C.N> about how to sell the roughly one-third stake it acquired
as part of its bailout of the bank, news agency Bloomberg
reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Citi shares
were down 3.1 percent to $4.38 in premarket trading.
[]
Kraft Foods Inc <KFT.N>, North Americas's biggest food
group, said it plans to hold talks in the coming weeks with
British bid target Cadbury Plc <CBRY.L> that may lead to a new
offer for the second biggest global candy and chocolate maker.
[]
European shares were flat on Tuesday, with losses in
insurers overshadowing gains in utility stocks on the day
marking the one-year anniversary of the Lehman Brothers
collapse. []
Asian stocks edged up, with markets in South Korea and
Taiwan closing at 14-month highs, as investors put their faith
in a global economic recovery and looked past a trade spat
between the United States and China. []
U.S. stocks rose on Monday as reports of more merger
activity added to a string of recent deals, suggesting
investors still see value in the market after its run-up of
more than 50 percent since March.
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; editing by Jeffrey
Benkoe)
