Stock index futures fell on Friday as a jobs proposal by President Barack Obama did little to reassure investors concerned about weak economic growth.

Obama's U.S. jobs package, revealed in an address to Congress on Thursday evening, was met with skepticism, with investors waiting to see if Republicans would back the plan.

In China, inflation pulled back in August from a three-year high, while economic activity slowed, underlining expectations the central bank can hold off on further monetary policy tightening in the face of a global economic slowdown.

Finance chiefs from the Group of 7 richest nations meet on Friday under heavy pressure to take action to revive flagging economic growth and calm the biggest confidence crisis in financial markets since the global credit crunch.

Bank of America Corp officials have discussed slashing roughly 40,000 jobs during the first wave of a restructuring, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the plans. The cuts aim to reduce the bank's workforce of 280,000 over a period of years, the Journal said.

A number of brokerages, including Jefferies, cut price target on Texas Instruments Inc after the company warned its third-quarter earnings and revenue would be worse than already low expectations as concern about an economic slowdown is stifling demand for products that use its chips.

S&P 500 futures fell 6.3 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. Dow Jones industrial average futures dipped 53 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 15 points.

U.S. stocks closed sharply lower on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave no indications that new stimulus measures were in the works to boost the flagging economy.

(Reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Padraic Cassidy)

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