Stock futures slip after weak economic data

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures eased on Thursday as further contraction in Chinese manufacturing and a downturn in Europe's service sector underscored the headwinds faced by the global economy despite aggressive monetary easing by central banks.

Manufacturing in China contracted for the 11th month in a row in September, according to a private sector survey of factory managers, while in the euro zone the downturn in activity in the service sector steepened this month at the fastest pace since July 2009.

The data looked set to pressure stocks at the forefront of economic activity such as miners and energy companies. U.S. crude eased on Thursday to trade under $92 a barrel, dropping for a fourth day, while copper slipped from 4-1/2 month highs.

Shares of railroad company Norfolk Southern Corp dropped 5.5 percent after it said weaker shipments of coal and merchandise as well as lower fuel- surcharge revenue would reduce its third-quarter earnings compared with a year earlier.

S&P 500 futures fell 3.9 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 33 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 5 points.

Losses were relatively light after the S&P 500 rallied 7 percent since early August, reflecting the belief that monetary easing in the form of bond buying by the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank would put a floor in the market.

European equities <.FTEU3> fell 0.3 percent on Thursday as the weak Chinese manufacturing data reignited global growth concerns, hitting miners, while euro zone banks continued to trim recent gains on uncertainty about if and when Spain would apply for a bailout.

Bank of America Corp is planning to cut 16,000 jobs by year end as it speeds up a company-wide cost-cutting initiative amid declining revenues, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The shares fell 1 percent to $9.20 in premarket trade.

Adobe Systems Inc , maker of Photoshop and Acrobat software, said current-quarter earnings will decline or remain flat as customers take to the company's new subscription-based model faster than expected.

Information services company Markit releases its U.S. flash Markit Manufacturing PMI for September at 8:58 a.m. EDT (1258 GMT). Economists expect the PMI to read 51.5, a repeat of the final August number.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank releases September business activity survey at 10:00 a.m. (1400 GMT). Economists forecast a reading of -4.0, versus -7.1 in August. The release comes after a weaker than expected reading for New York manufacturing earlier this month.

The Labor Department releases at 8:30 a.m. (1230 GMT) first-time claims for jobless benefits for the week ended September 15. Economists forecast a total of 375,000 new filings, compared with 382,000 in the prior week.

Results from Oracle , the world's No. 3 software maker, could provide clues as to whether corporate technology spending will pick up at the end of the year when managers rush to spend remaining budgeted funds.

(Reporting by Edward Krudy; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)