* For up-to-the-minute market news see [STXNEWS/US] (Updates market activity)
By Edward Krudy
NEW YORK, Aug 20 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures fell on Friday, tracking global equity markets lower as weaker-than-expected economic data reinforced fears of a faltering recovery.
U.S. stocks tumbled to their lowest close in nearly a month Thursday after anemic labor market and manufacturing reports indicated the recovery was losing momentum.
"Basically growth is just not there," said Dave Rovelli, a trader at Canaccord Adams in New York. "Until this administration figures out how to get people hired, we are going to be seeing a lot of these big up days, big down days, and the market's going to be all over the place."
Futures traded erratically, with S&P 500 futures falling more than 7 points in early trade, but came off their lows as the morning progressed.
S&P 500 futures SPc1 were down 5.8 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 DJc1 dropped 42 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures NDc1 lost 5.50 points.
Despite declines in the last session, short-term support held, with the S&P 500 index bouncing off the 1,070 level, which represented last week's low. If the index falls through that point, the next potential support level is around 1,060.
Japan's Nikkei average .N225 closed down 2 percent, hit by the weak U.S. data, which also sent the dollar slipping back toward a 15-year low.
European stocks .FTEU3 dipped 0.8 percent, off for the third straight day, while world stocks as measured by MSCI .MIWD00000PUS were also down 1 percent.
Natural resource stocks were likely to come under pressure again as U.S. crude oil futures fell 1.2 percent toward $73 per barrel. Copper fell on renewed risk aversion as investors sought perceived safe-haven assets.
Technology bellwethers Dell Inc (DELL.O) and Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) posted higher profits after the closing bell Thursday, reporting broad-based strength from corporate customers and only hints of weakness from consumers. For details, see [ID:nN1988186]
JM Smucker Co (SJM.N), the maker of Jif peanut butter and Folgers coffee, posted quarterly profit of 86 cents per share early Friday versus the estimate. [ID:nASA00OEH]
Hormel Foods Corp (HRL.N), maker of Spam lunch meat, reported quarterly earnings of 63 cents per share. [ID:nASA00OEI] (Reporting by Edward Krudy; editing by W Simon and Jeffrey Benkoe)
