Stock futures retreat, tracking losses in Europe, Japan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures fell on Thursday, tracking a retreat in overseas shares, amid scant domestic catalysts to drive trading ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's speech Friday at a symposium of central bankers.

Bernanke is set to address central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where he could announce new measures to boost growth. He is expected to stoke expectations for a third round of quantitative easing, though he may not detail the timing of the Fed's action.

European shares <.FTEU3> fell 0.4 percent with investors reluctant to increase their exposure to riskier assets ahead of the Fed meeting. Japanese stocks <.N225> fell almost 1 percent to a two-week closing low.

"There's so little news that's impacting the market ahead of Bernanke that weakness overseas is enough to move us, even if in general we'll be in a holding pattern until tomorrow," said Cort Gwon, chief strategist at HudsonView Capital Management in New York.

Daily trading volume, which has been at 2012 lows this week in a reflection of investors' reluctance to place big bets before Bernanke's speech, could weigh on profits at exchanges and brokers.

Equity price movements have been muted as well, with the S&P hardly moving over the past three days. It hasn't closed with a 1 percent move in either direction since August 3.

S&P 500 futures fell 4.8 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 38 points and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 10.25 points.

The index has been pinned in a fairly tight range over the last three weeks, finding support at 1,400 while also unable to convincingly pierce the April high of 1,422.38, which has acted as a resistance point.

Investors are looking ahead to the latest economic data, including jobless claims at 8:30 a.m. ET (1230 GMT), which are seen dropping by 2,000 to 370,000 in the latest week. A read on personal income and consumption, along with PCE data, is also on tap; all three are for July and are seen rising slightly.

"The data shouldn't have a major impact on today's market, though if the numbers are very strong ,some fear it could mean the economy is so strong we won't get QE3," Gwon said.

In company news, Pandora Media Inc surged 14 percent to $11.47 in premarket trading after reporting adjusted second-quarter earnings that beat expectations and raising its full-year outlook.

Citigroup Inc agreed to pay $590 million to settle a shareholder lawsuit accusing it of hiding tens of billions of dollars of toxic mortgage assets. Shares edged 0.7 percent lower in premarket trading.

Johnson & Johnson agreed to a deal where it will get a 10.7 percent equity stake in Denmark's Genmab in exchange for giving Genmab the rights to a cancer agent.

S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC said it will replace retailer Sears Holdings Corp with chemical maker LyondellBasell Industries NV in the S&P 500 after the close of trading on September 4.

U.S. stocks edged up just 0.1 percent Wednesday in the lightest trading of the year as investors held back from major trading decisions before Bernanke's speech.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)