Stock index futures signal firmer open

Stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 and Dow Jones up 0.2 percent, with Nasdaq 100 futures 0.1 percent higher at 0859 GMT.

European equities <.fteu3> eased on Tuesday, with investors taking profits after a rally to 13-month highs on concerns about the strings that Germany may attach to the euro zone bailout fund and the chance the United States may not deliver widely awaited stimulus.

July U.S. international trade numbers will be released on Tuesday at 1230 GMT, with September U.S. IBD consumer confidence numbers due at 1400 GMT.

Package delivery companies FedEx Corp and United Parcel Service Inc have received approval to provide express-package services in some cities of China on their own, the country's State Postal Bureau (SPB) said on its website last week.

Sales of the new iPhone could add between a quarter and a half percentage point to fourth quarter annualized growth in the United States, J.P. Morgan's chief economist Michael Feroli said in a note to clients on Monday.

Zynga Inc's chief marketing officer resigned on Monday, becoming the latest senior executive to depart the struggling social games company behind popular Facebook Inc games such as Farmville.

Security software maker Palo Alto Networks , which went public in July, promised shareholders continued revenue growth after it beat fourth-quarter revenue and earnings estimates on rising demand for protection against network security attacks.

The board of General Growth Properties Inc on Monday rejected activist investor Bill Ackman's call for the company to consider selling itself, saying its shareholders would be best served by the company sticking to its current business plan.

Wall Street stocks fell on Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> off 52.35 points, or 0.39 percent, at 13,254.29, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> down 8.84 points, or 0.61 percent, at 1,429.08, and the Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> off 32.40 points, or 1.03 percent, at 3,104.02.

(Reporting by Tricia Wright; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wall-street-drops-fed-tech-sector-weighs-000217158--sector.html

ground hog day 2012 aaron carter black history month did groundhog see his shadow soul train don cornelius rod parsley barry sanders jr