Stock index futures signal gains; Apple eyed

PARIS -

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Friday, with December futures for the S&P 500 up 0.21 percent, for the Dow Jones up 0.33 percent and for the Nasdaq 100 up 0.21 percent at 0930 GMT.

European shares and the euro clawed back up on Friday and oil also rebounded from a 1-1/2 month low, as investors moved back into markets still feeling the benefits of support measures from central banks.

The Euro STOXX 50 volatility index <.V2TX>, Europe's equivalent of the VIX <.VIX>, tumbled 5 percent to a 6-month low on Friday morning, signaling a sharp drop in investor risk aversion as tensions surrounding the euro zone debt crisis continue to ease.

Apple Inc will be in the spotlight as the company's iPhone 5 hit stores around the globe on Friday, giving the consumer giant a boost ahead of the crucial end-of-year holiday season as rival Samsung Electronics Co <005930.KS> stepped up its legal challenge over key technologies.

Apple's iPhone 5 uses chips from Qualcomm Inc , Avago Technologies Ltd and Skyworks Solutions Inc , according to repair firm iFixit, which pried one open.

Oracle Corp's hardware sales are expected to drop further after tumbling 24 percent from a year ago, the software maker said, as it strives to turn around its Sun computer division amid tight technology budgets.

James Murdoch will be given more responsibility over News Corp's U.S. television operations more than a year after he became a central figure in the company's telephone hacking scandal in the UK, two sources familiar with the matter said.

Japan's All Nippon Airways <9202.T> said on Friday it would buy 11 Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft for about 254.7 billion yen ($3.3 billion).

Sharp Corp's <6753.T> stock jumped on Friday after a local media report said the cash-strapped Japanese display maker was in talks to make U.S. chipmaker Intel Corp its biggest shareholder.

The Canadian Auto Workers union said on Thursday it reached a tentative four-year contract with General Motors Co , after a day of fighting words from union leader Ken Lewenza and hours of grueling negotiations.

Halliburton Co , the world's second-largest oilfield services company, on Thursday promoted Jeff Miller to the new position of chief operating officer, a move likely to revive speculation about its succession plans.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc is looking to open its first retail outlets in India within 12 to 18 months, Scott Price, president and CEO for Asia, said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

Nike rival Adidas slashed its 2015 sales target for its struggling Reebok brand to 2 billion euros ($2.6 billion) from 3 billion euros after losing a major American football contract and fraud was discovered at its Indian operation.

Insurance broker Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc said its 65-year-old Chief Executive Brian Duperreault will retire at the end of the year and Chief Operating Officer Daniel Glaser will take over as the CEO. [ID:nL4E8KK64Z]

Michael Kors Holdings Ltd said it will likely earn more than it earlier expected in the second quarter as the fashion and accessory designer banks on strong global sales.

The U.S. central bank would be courting disaster if it pursued a so-called nominal growth target that did not take into account the economic damage done by the housing crisis, a senior Federal Reserve official warned on Thursday.

World trade will grow by a mere 2.5 percent this year, dragged down by Europe to less than half of the previous 20-year average, the World Trade Organization said on Friday.

PIMCO'S Bill Gross, who runs the world's largest bond fund, said on Thursday that he does not see the Federal Reserve pulling back from its quantitative easing policies until the U.S. unemployment rate at least drops to 6 percent.

Institutional investors poured money into equity funds in the week ended September 19 as the Federal Reserve launched another stimulus round, but retail investors stayed away from stocks, data from Thomson Reuters Lipper service showed on Thursday.

The Dow industrials ended slightly higher on Thursday while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq cut most of the day's losses in a sign that investor sentiment remains generally positive despite several weak manufacturing surveys from around the world.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 18.97 points, or 0.14 percent, to close at 13,596.93. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> dipped 0.79 of a point, or 0.05 percent, to 1,460.26. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> fell 6.66 points, or 0.21 percent, to close at 3,175.96.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson)