By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Oct 15 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were little changed on Friday, as investors awaited a speech by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and a host of economic data for insight into the next round of the Fed's quantitative easing.
* Bernanke is scheduled to speak at 8:15 a.m. at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's "Revisiting Monetary Policy in a Low-Inflation Environment" conference.
* "Everybody is going to watch closely because they are looking for a hint on quantitative easing," said Barry Ritholtz, director of equity research at Fusion IQ in New York.
* "That is pretty much a bullish speech title. Whenever the Fed is talking about a low inflation environment it means they feel they have latitude to engage in broad-based monetary policy. Right now they are extremely accommodative, and they are implying they are going to become more accommodative."
* At 8:30 a.m. the U.S. Commerce Department will release September retail sales numbers. Economists expect a 0.4 percent month-over-month increase, a repeat of the August rise. Excluding automobiles, sales were also forecast to rise 0.4 percent, compared with a 0.6 percent increase in August.
* Also at 8:30 a.m., the Labor Department releases the September consumer price index. Economists in a Reuters survey expect CPI to rise 0.2 percent compared with a 0.3 percent increase in August.
* The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers preliminary October consumer sentiment index is set for release at 9:55 a.m. Economists in a Reuters survey expect a reading of 69.0 compared with 68.2 in the final September report.
* Other macroeconomic releases on Friday include U.S. business inventories for August at 10 a.m., expected to rise 0.5 percent and the Empire State Manufacturing survey at 8:30 a.m.
* S&P 500 futures fell 2.7 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 lost 19 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 1.5 point.
* General Electric Co reported a rise in quarterly profit from continuing operations, as lower credit losses at its finance arm offset slack demand for heavy equipment including jet engines and railroad locomotives. Its shares dipped in premarket trade as its revenue fell short of Wall Street's forecast.
* Google Inc eased fears that big spending would erode margins as its results blew past Wall Street targets, and the web search leader revealed for the first time the strength of its fledgling mobile and online display ad businesses. Frankfurt-listed shares in Google were up 9 percent.
* Mattel Inc reported a slightly higher-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by classic brands like Barbie and newer lines like Disney Princess and Monster High dolls, and struck a positive note ahead of the busiest selling period of the year.
* European shares were flat Friday morning, with technology shares boosted by upbeat results from Google, offsetting falls in heavyweight miners as metals prices eased from earlier highs.
* Banks led U.S. stocks lower on Thursday as investors fretted a widening foreclosure crisis could undermine the market's strength over the last five weeks.