Stock futures drop before jobless claims, sales data

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock futures fell on Thursday ahead of data investors fear may show further deterioration in U.S. consumer spending and the labor market.

News that the last quarter of 2008 marked the worst contraction for Japan, the world's second-biggest economy, since the oil crisis of 1974, also weighed on sentiment.

A day after Wall Street chalked up its first 2-day advance in a month, appetite for riskier assets seemed to wane as some investors fled to gold, pushing the metal above $900 an ounce. Safe-haven buying also propped U.S. Treasury debt prices.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick told London's Daily Mail newspaper the global economy was on track for its worst recession since the 1930s, with output likely to shrink 1 to 2 percent this year.

Drags before the bell included financial shares as uncertainty about how the U.S. government will cleanse bank balance sheets of money-losing assets persisted. Bank of America slipped 5.3 percent at $4.67, while Citigroup dipped 7.8 percent to $1.42.

Adding to caution was news that Freddie Mac , one of the two main U.S. mortgage finance companies the government is depending on to help stabilize the slumping housing market, needs $30.8 billion from the Treasury to survive.

"There's just the potential for so many negative announcements ... that no one wants to be caught off guard," said Rick Meckler, president of investment firm LibertyView Capital Management in New York. "Probably also weighing on the market a little bit today is the Freddie Mac news."

S&P 500 futures fell 3.40 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 fell 54 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 9.00 points.

U.S. government reports on weekly initial jobless claims and February retail sales are due out at 8.30 a.m. EDT.

Investors will also keep an eye on a U.S. House Financial Services Committee hearing on mark-to-market accounting rules, blamed for forcing banks to make billions of dollars in writedowns.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner testifies to the U.S. Senate Budget Committee on the Obama administration's 2010 budget and revenue proposals at 10 a.m. EDT.

(Editing by James Dalgleish)