* Oil at 26-month high, near $91 per barrel
* Sonic Solutions soars 25 pct on Rovi takeover bid
* Futures: Dow up 3 pts, S&P off 0.9 pt, Nasdaq off 4.75
NEW YORK, Dec 23 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures were little changed in light volume on Thursday ahead of a busy day for economic data as Wall Street approached a fourth straight week of gains.
* Energy shares will be in the spotlight as oil prices climbed to a 26-month high, near $91 per barrel, boosted by unusually cold weather in the United States and Europe and a surge in demand that fueled the biggest drop in crude stockpiles in more than a decade.
* The Commerce Department releases November personal income and consumption data as well as durable goods orders at 8:30 a.m. EST (1330 GMT). Economists in a Reuters survey expected a rise of 0.2 percent in November income and a 0.5 percent increase in consumption versus 0.4 percent previously. Also, economists see a fall in orders of 0.5 percent versus a drop of 3.4 percent in October.
* Also at 8:30 a.m., the Labor Department reports first-time jobless claims for the week ended Dec. 18. Economists forecast a total of 420,000 new filings, unchanged from the prior week.
* S&P 500 futures fell 0.9 point and were flat in terms of 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 gained 3 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 4.75 points.
* Rovi Corp will pay $720 million in cash and stock to buy Sonic Solutions, which owns the popular DivX digital video player software. Sonic shares jumped almost 25 percent to $14 in light premarket trading.
* Defense contractor Raytheon Co recommended Wednesday that shareholders reject an unsolicited offer by TRC Capital Corp to buy up to 2 million common shares, or about 0.5 percent of its outstanding stock.
* The S&P 500 rose to its highest level since the collapse of Lehman Brothers more than two years ago on Wednesday, led by bank stocks.