US STOCKS-Futures edge up ahead of jobless data, retail sales

* Costco sales top estimates

* For-profit colleges rise on rule softening

* Futures up: Dow 6 pts, S&P 1.4 pts, Nasdaq 8 pts

* For up-to-the-minute market news see [STXNEWS/US] (Adds quote, updates prices)

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK, June 2 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged up on Thursday, a day after suffering its biggest losses in nearly a year, as investors waited for more clues on the strength of the economy ahead of Friday's jobs data.

Reports on tap later in the day include U.S. weekly jobless claims, due at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT) and factory orders at 10 a.m. EDT. (1400 GMT)

Jobless claims are expected to fall to 415,000 versus the prior week's 424,000, according to a Thomson Reuters poll of economists. Factory orders are seen declined by 1 percent, compared with the prior month's 3.4 percent increase.

"I don't see huge layoffs coming, but I don't see huge hiring happening either. This higher than normal unemployment rate in this cycle is just indicative that we are treading water and not getting anywhere," said Kim Caughey Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.

"In the equity markets, at least, we are optimists. We think tomorrow is going to be better than today, and we would like to see evidence of that from the data."

S&P 500 futures gained 1.4 points and were slightly 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 rose 6 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 8.5 points.

Retailers will post monthly sales, which are expected to show that higher gasoline prices crimped consumer demand for summer clothing and other discretionary items. For details, see [ID:nN01154804]

U.S. warehouse club operator Costco Wholesale Corp beat estimates, with a 13 percent rise in May same-store sales, helped by higher gas prices. [ID:nL3E7H211G]

A high unemployment rate means the Federal Reserve's ultra-easy monetary policies remained the right course of action, top Fed officials said Wednesday. High unemployment is not a "quickly resolvable problem," but April's job gains showed the recovery is on a firmer footing, Cleveland Fed President Sandra Pianalto said. [ID:nN01220753]

Chinese hackers are suspected of trying to steal passwords from hundreds of Google email accounts, including senior U.S. government officials, Chinese activists and journalists, the Internet company said. China's Foreign Ministry denied the accusations. [ID:nB9E7EP033] and [ID:nN01199426]

U.S. officials softened rules that could have cut off tuition aid to some programs run by for-profit colleges. Corinthian Colleges Inc surged 17.5 percent to $4.69, and Apollo Group Inc jumped 8.8 percent to $45.88 in premarket trade. [ID:N01206107]

European shares fell as disappointing data from the United States prompted concerns over a slowdown in the pace of economic recovery, causing a pull back in appetite for riskier assets. [.EU]

In Asia, markets tumbled Thursday on heightened concerns about the global economic outlook, while political woes in Japan added to Tokyo selling as Prime Minister Naoto Kan said he would resign after he gets a nuclear crisis under control. [ID:nLDE7510DY]

Wall Street ended a four-day rally with its worst session since August on Wednesday and could suffer more losses in coming days as investors worried over the state of the recovery. (Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)