Stock index futures signal early losses

PARIS (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Friday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 1.11 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.2 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.24 percent at 5:22 a.m. EDT.

The Nikkei average <.N225> slipped 0.6 percent on Friday while European stocks were down 1 percent in morning trade, reversing a two-day tentative rally, as President Barack Obama's jobs package was met with skepticism, with investors waiting to see if Republicans would back the plan.

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

G7 finance chiefs meet on Friday under heavy pressure to take action to revive flagging economic growth in rich nations 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 restructuring aims to reduce the bank's workforce of 280,000 over a period of years, the Journal said.

Investors pulled an estimated net $13.3 billion out of U.S. equity funds in the holiday-shortened week ended September 7, with most of the outflow via one exchange traded fund, data from Thomson Reuters' Lipper showed on Thursday.

SAP AG agreed to plead guilty to unspecified charges in a criminal case involving unauthorized access to computers maintained by software rival Oracle Corp , according to a court filing.

TSMC <2330.TW>, the world's biggest contract chip maker, said on Friday that sales in August rose 1.5 percent from a year earlier.

Car sales in China rose 7.3 percent in August from a year earlier, rebounding steadily from a decline in May as Nissan Motor <7201.T> and its peers resumed production at home and eased a crunch in parts supplies at their China car ventures. The market was expected to continue its uptrend in September and October, the traditional peak auto-selling season.

U.S. stocks closed sharply lower on Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave no indications of new stimulus measures to boost the flagging economy in a keenly awaited speech.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> dropped 119.05 points, or 1.04 percent, to 11,295.81. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> fell 12.72 points, or 1.06 percent, to 1,185.90. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> lost 19.80 points, or 0.78 percent, to 2,529.14.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by Mike Nesbit)