Wall Street futures signal flat to higher open

LONDON (Reuters) - Stock index futures signaled a flat to slightly higher open for Wall Street on Thursday, following a late rebound in the previous session, with the S&P 500 futures up 0.1 percent, while the Dow Jones industrial average futures and Nasdaq futures traded flat by 0857 GMT (4:57 a.m. EDT).

U.S. stocks staged a comeback on Wednesday, breaking a four-day losing streak by major indexes, as key technical support triggered bargain-hunting. That offset weak economic data which showed durable goods orders in July rose far less than anticipated and new home sales for the same month slumped to a record slow pace.

Some caution is expected to linger over the outlook for the economy, with investors likely to focus on weekly jobless claims data at 1230 GMT to gauge the health of the labor market.

Other significant macroeconomic data due for release include the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's monthly manufacturing index for August at 1500 GMT and the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank's Midwest manufacturing data for July at 1600 GMT.

As concerns remain over the pace of the economic recovery, central bankers from around the world will assess the darkening economic outlook at their annual U.S. mountain retreat this week with discussion of printing yet more money to spur growth on the agenda.

In company news, BHP Billiton's chief executive flies to North America this week to crank up the charm offensive with Potash Corp shareholders after dousing expectations he would sweeten a $39 billion bid for the fertilizer giant.

A U.S. judge on Wednesday refused to block sales of a generic version of Sanofi-Aventis SA's blood thinner marketed by Novartis AG's Sandoz unit and Momenta Inc .

Despite launching a global campaign to revive its banged-up brand, UBS's U.S. brokerage faces another costly and embarrassing wave of regulatory actions.

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, which plans to open 2,000 of its Las Vegas Strip hotel rooms in mid-December, has linked up with Marriott International Inc , giving it much-needed access to a database of customers.

Guess Inc on Wednesday missed analysts' expectations for its full-year profit forecast and warned that the economy in many markets remained uncertain, sending its shares down nearly 6 percent.

Amazon.com Inc said on Wednesday that more of its new third generation Kindles were ordered in the first month of availability than any previous models.

Apple Inc is expected to show off a snazzier line of iPods on September 1, as speculation mounts the consumer electronics giant may also unveil plans to reinvigorate its long-neglected TV project.

Google Inc said users of Gmail will now be able to call telephones directly from their email, putting it in direct competition with Web calling service Skype and more traditional operators such as AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications .

An Idaho judge ruled late Tuesday that a rural highway could not be used to move giant replacement units to ConocoPhillips Billings, Montana, refinery.

Among firms to report earnings on Thursday include J Crew , Regis Corp and Signet Jewelers .

In Europe, shares bounced back from a five-week low as upbeat corporate results boosted investor sentiment. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> was up 0.5 percent at 1,016.06 points by 0857 GMT.

(Reporting by Harpreet Bhal; Editing by Erica Billingham)