Stock futures little changed ahead of Cyprus vote

NEW YORK -

Stock futures were little changed on Tuesday amid caution ahead of a crucial vote in Cyprus that could lead the country into default, as investors waited to see if the nation's troubles would have a wider impact in the euro zone.

* Cyprus's parliament was set to reject a divisive tax on bank deposits in a vote scheduled for Tuesday, a government spokesman said. The government has proposed to spare small savers from the tax in a bid to win parliamentary backing for an international bailout and avoid default and a banking collapse.

* A weekend announcement that Cyprus would break with previous practice and impose a levy on bank accounts as part of a 10 billion euro ($13 billion) EU bailout prompted some turmoil on European financial markets on Monday.

* Investors awaited U.S. housing starts and permits data for February, due at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT). Economists surveyed by Reuters forecast a 915,000 annualized rate in February versus 890,000 in January, and a total of 925,000 permits in February compared with 904,000 in the prior month.

* S&P 500 futures added 1.1 points, in line with 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 added 3 points, while Nasdaq 100 futures lost 1.5 points.

* Citigroup Inc has agreed to pay $730 million to settle a class action lawsuit on behalf of investors who said they were misled by the company's disclosures.

* BlackRock Inc , the world's largest money manager, will lay off nearly 300 employees, or about 3 percent of its workforce, according to an internal memo obtained by Reuters.

* The head of Valero Energy Corp said Monday his company is not pursuing a sale of its two California refineries, ending months of speculation over whether it was seeking buyers for the two plants.

* Boeing Co technical workers voted by a wide margin to ratify a new four-year labor agreement with the company, ending the possibility of a strike that could have cut production at a critical time for the aircraft maker.

* Drugmaker Affymax Inc said it was considering selling itself or filing for bankruptcy among a range of alternatives, as it struggles to stay afloat following the recent recall of its sole commercial product, the anemia drug Omontys.

* Intersections Inc , a provider of identity theft protection, said its full-year revenue will fall as much as 15 percent as regulatory scrutiny causes financial services companies to pull back on marketing its products.

* U.S. stocks fell on Monday after a plan to tax bank accounts in Cyprus to help pay for the country's bailout stoked worries that it could threaten the stability of financial institutions in the euro zone.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)