US stock futures flat after Goldman, trade data

NEW YORK, Sept 12 (Reuters) U.S. stock futures pared losses and pointed to a flat start on Wall Street on Tuesday after a failed attack on the U.S. embassy in Syria rattled investors, but shares of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. jumped before the bell after the investment bank's quarterly earnings exceeded expectations.

Stock index futures briefly turned positive after being slightly in the red for most of the morning. Index futures went slightly negative again, after the Commerce Department said the U.S. trade deficit widened much more than expected in July to a record billion.

Standard&Poor's 500 futures were down 0.9 point, but above fair value, a mathematical formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract.

Dow Jones industrial average futures were up 2 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures were down 0.75 point.

REUTERS DKS ND1832