Stock index futures signal slight gains

PARIS -

Stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.12 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.26 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.05 percent at 0750 GMT.

European shares inched up in morning trade, reversing the previous session's dip as hopes surrounding recent stimulus measures from central banks offset simmering worries over the global economy and Spain's reluctance to request a bailout that would ease concerns about the euro zone debt crisis.

Offering one of the clearest road maps yet for the Federal Reserve's latest monetary stimulus, John Williams, a top Fed policymaker, said on Monday he expects the central bank to expand its bond-buying program next year and end it before the close of 2014.

Caterpillar Inc will be in focus after it cut its 2015 earnings forecast on Monday, warning of a bigger-than-expected fall-off in demand for its products over the next few years because of weaker commodity prices. It stopped short of forecasting a global recession. The outlook cut was reported minutes before Wall Street's closing bell. Its shares traded in Frankfurt were down 2.9 percent.

Google Inc started selling its Nexus 7 tablet in Japan, deepening the competition with Sony Corp <6758.T>, the Japanese hardware maker whose tablets also run on the world's No.1 search engine's operating system.

The French government has summoned Facebook Inc managers to appear before the country's data watchdog to explain how some of its users came to believe their privacy had been infringed on the social network, it said in a statement early on Tuesday.

U.S. women's clothing retailer Wet Seal Inc urged shareholders to reject activist investor Clinton Group's efforts to replace four members of the board, saying its candidates were better suited than Clinton's to lead the company.

Hewlett-Packard Co on Monday lost a legal bid to expand its benefits from the research tax credit after the U.S. Tax Court ruled the company could not exclude certain types of income when calculating the tax break.

Payroll processor Paychex Inc reported a first-quarter profit that narrowly beat market estimates, helped by higher revenue from its human resource services business.

Tyco International Ltd agreed to pay $26.8 million to resolve U.S. charges that it paid bribes to officials of foreign governments and misreported such payments, in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

A Chinese factory owned by iPhone assembler Foxconn resumed production on Tuesday after a riot involving 2,000 workers had forced it to close for 24 hours, in an incident that put Chinese labor conditions back under the microscope.

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc said it owns a 17 percent stake in U.S. broadcaster and publisher Media General , as the conglomerate continues to boost its investment in the newspaper industry.

The union representing pilots at American Airlines said that the airline wants to resume talks, signaling the company's intent in resolving a stalemate with the association.

Red Hat Inc , the world's largest distributor of Linux operating software, reported a lower-than-expected adjusted profit as costs rose, and lowered the top end of its full-year revenue outlook on slow growth in its services business.

A New York-based investment fund that owns shares in U.S. engineering company Shaw Group Inc , has demanded that a special committee be set up to investigate Shaw's chairman for potential conflicts of interest as he looks to sell the company to Chicago Bridge & Iron Co for $3 billion.

U.S. pension funds, charitable groups, endowments and other large institutional investors are taking on more exposure in non-traditional "alternative" investments -- such as private equity and hedge funds -- to buffer against volatile stock markets, an investor survey found on Tuesday.

U.S. stocks edged lower on Monday as a disappointing forecast from Caterpillar and weak German data increased concerns that global growth may remain sluggish.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> declined 20.55 points, or 0.15 percent, to close at 13,558.92 on Monday. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> shed 3.26 points, or 0.22 percent, to 1,456.89. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> dropped 19.18 points, or 0.60 percent, to end at 3,160.78.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by John Stonestreet)