S&P Futures Flat Ahead Of Data, Cisco Weighs

S&P 500 futures were flat on Thursday as investors paused from a recent bout of selling ahead of the latest report on the labor market.

Dow and Nasdaq futures were pressured by Cisco Systems Inc., which forecast weak fourth-quarter profits on concerns about global technology spending. The stock fell 7.9 percent to $17.29 in premarket trading.

Weekly jobless claims, due at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT), were seen rising by 4,000 to 369,000. This will be the first gauge of the labor market since last week's payrolls report, which came in sharply below expectations.

Wall Street has lately been tracking the movement in European shares, with the S&P falling for five of the past six sessions.

European shares <.FTEU3> were down 0.4 percent early Thursday on fears over how the political deadlock in Greece will affect the region's debt crisis. Equities recovered Wednesday after regional officials agreed to make a 4.2 billion euro bailout payment to Greece.

S&P 500 futures rose 0.6 points and were about even with fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. The Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 17 points, and the Nasdaq 100 futures lost 4.25 points.

The Dow has fallen for six straight days, while the S&P rebounded from a two-month low on Wednesday, suggesting investors may use the index's two-day drop of more than 1 percent as a buying opportunity.

In another troubling sign from abroad, China's annual growth in imports in April was just 0.3 percent, far below forecasts of an 11 percent increase. Exports managed to grow just 4.9 percent versus expectations of 8.5 percent, data showed.

News Corp. reported adjusted earnings that beat expectations late Wednesday and announced another $5 billion in stock buybacks.

With 441 of the S&P 500 companies reporting results through Wednesday morning, 66.7 percent exceeded estimates, according to Thomson Reuters data, versus more than 80 percent at the start of earnings season.

March U.S. international trade data will be released at 8:30 a.m. EDT. Economists in a Reuters poll expected the trade deficit to widen to $50 billion in March from $46.03 billion in February.

Investors stayed focused on the turmoil in Europe on Wednesday, sparking another down day, but a deal for another Greek bailout payment helped cut losses late in the session.

(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)