By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures slipped Thursday on worries that China, the engine of the world economy, may have to slam the brakes to combat accelerating prices.
S&P 500 futures fell 2.2 points to 1,143.50 and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 2.5 points to 1,916.20. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 9 points.
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Stocks edged higher Wednesday on Wall Street, with government-backed financials American International Group and Citigroup extending gains, and technology companies also performing well. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rose fractionally, lagging as the S&P 500 gained 0.5% and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.8%.
Driven by a jump in food prices, the Chinese consumer price index, tracking inflation at the retail level, climbed 2.7% in February. Lending by Chinese banks rose 700.1 billion yuan ($102.5 billion) in February, while money supply as measured by M2 was up 25.5%.
"Today's monetary and inflation data out of China do not make for comfortable reading," said Diana Choyleva, of Lombard Street Research.
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The Shanghai Composite finished the session up 0.1%, while most Europe indexes saw modest losses.
In the U.S., the data calendar features weekly jobless claims and January trade data.
In currencies, the British pound recaptured the $1.50 level, and in energy, crude-oil futures traded over $82 a barrel.
Devon Energy /quotes/comstock/13*!dvn/quotes/nls/dvn (DVN 71.85, +1.00, +1.41%) rose nearly 3% in the premarket after agreeing to sell Brazil, Gulf of Mexico and Azerbaijan assets to BP /quotes/comstock/13*!bp/quotes/nls/bp (BP 56.19, +0.15, +0.27%) for $7 billion and buying half of a BP oil-sands project in Canada for $500 million. BP drifted lower in London trade. See full story.
Meanwhile, Exxon Mobil /quotes/comstock/13*!xom/quotes/nls/xom (XOM 67.22, +0.44, +0.66%) will be holding its annual meeting. Exxon may outline its capital spending and stock-buyback plan, analysts say.
Outside of the oil patch, the International Air Transport Association halved its loss forecast for the global airlines industry in 2010 to $2.8 billion, from a December prediction of $5.6 billion, citing a much stronger-than-expected recovery in demand since the start of the year, particularly in Asia Pacific and Latin America.
Steve Goldstein is MarketWatch's London bureau chief.
