Stock futures drop on global growth concerns

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures edged lower on Tuesday after Japan's sovereign rating was cut by Fitch as a political stalemate dimmed chances the country could curb its snowballing debt.

Fitch lowered Japan's long-term foreign currency rating to A plus from AA. It cut the local currency rating to A plus from AA minus. Both were cut with a negative outlook.

The United States and Japan are leading a fragile economic recovery among developed countries that could be blown off course if the euro zone fails to contain the damage from its problem debtor states, the OECD said on Tuesday.

In its twice-yearly economic outlook, the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development forecast that global growth would ease to 3.4 percent this year from 3.6 percent in 2011, before accelerating to 4.2 percent in 2013, in line with its last estimates from late November.

In the U.S., ICSC/Goldman Sachs will release at 7:45 a.m. ET (1145 GMT) chain store sales for the week ended May 19. In the previous week, sales fell 0.8 percent.

Redbook releases at 8:55 a.m. ET (1255 GMT) its Retail Sales Index of department and chain store sales for May versus April. In the prior period, sales fell 0.8 percent.

National Association of Realtors (NAR) releases at 10:00 a.m. ET (1400 GMT) existing home sales for April. Economists forecast a 4.60 million annualized unit total, versus 4.48 million in March.

Nasdaq OMX faces short-term costs from its botched handling of Facebook shares on their first day of trading on Friday, but longer-term repercussions could be more expensive as it struggles to restore its image. Initially, the exchange said it planned to set aside $13 million to resolve bad trades; even if all of that was used, the cost would be minimal compared with the $387 million in net income it reported last year.

In the run-up to Facebook's $16 billion IPO, Morgan Stanley , the lead underwriter on the deal, unexpectedly delivered some negative news to major clients: The bank's consumer Internet analyst, Scott Devitt, trimmed his revenue forecasts for the company.

S&P 500 futures fell 0.6 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 9 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures were off 4.5 points.

British bank Barclays is selling its near-20 percent stake in U.S. asset manager BlackRock , worth $6.1 billion, as tougher global regulations have cut the attraction of such holdings.

The Asian prime brokerage units of Credit Suisse and Bank of America Corp gained market share over the past year as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley , the top two industry players, lost hedge fund clients and assets, a survey showed.

China will fast track approvals for infrastructure investment to combat a slowdown in the economy, a state-backed newspaper reported on Tuesday, underlining a call by Premier Wen Jiabao for policies to maintain growth.

Stocks rose more than 1 percent on Monday, with the S&P 500 snapping a six-day losing streak, as equities rebounded from their biggest weekly drop in almost six months.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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