* Jobless claims, international trade data on tap
* Intel to report results after market close
* Dow down 13 pts, S&P up 1 pt, Nasdaq up 2 pts
* For up-to-the-minute market news see []
(Adds quote)
By Ryan Vlastelica
NEW YORK, Jan 13 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures
traded flat on Thursday, coming off a broad rally in the
previous session, as investors looked ahead to labor market
data and results from Intel, the first major technology company
to report earnings.
A pair of bond auctions in Europe went smoothly, helping to
further ease concerns over the region's sovereign debt issues
that have weighed on investors.
Initial jobless claims are expected to decline to 405,000
in the latest week from 409,000. The number is the first read
on the labor market since Friday's surprisingly weak payrolls
report.
The November international trade deficit is seen widening
to $40.5 billion from $38.71 billion in October. Both the
jobless claims and trade data will be released at 8:30 a.m.
(1330 GMT).
"A little flatness in the futures is to be expected this
morning, coming off of yesterday's move," said Christian
Wagner, chief executive at Longview Capital Management in
Wilmington, Delaware. "Since we've had such a strong run
lately, the fear is that we have less room to continue higher
from here," Wagner said.
Intel Corp <INTC.O> results are due after the market close,
with Wall Street analysts expecting an 8 percent rise in
revenue for the final quarter of 2010 over the year-ago
period.
S&P 500 futures <SPc1> rose 1 point and were above 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 <DJc1> were down
13 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures <NDc1> rose 2 points.
Equities have advanced since the start of December in part
on hopes that earnings would be strong, though in recent
sessions renewed fears over a European sovereign debt crisis
partially obscured some strong early results, including from
Alcoa Inc <AA.N>.
Spain followed Portugal with a successful debt sale on
Thursday, and investors showed growing confidence that
governments would agree to new measures to stem the debt
crisis. A separate sale of Italian bonds also attracted strong
demand. []
JPMorgan started coverage on the telecommunications
services sector with a favorable view, pointing to "strong cash
flow, stable business trends and potential improvements as the
economy rebounds." The firm rated AT&T Inc <T.N> at
"overweight" and Verizon Communications Inc <VZ.N> at
"neutral."
Williams-Sonoma Inc <WSM.N> raised its fourth-quarter
outlook after a strong holiday season as margins improved. The
shares rose 1 percent in premarket trade. []
(Editing by Padraic Cassidy
