Stock futures signal slight losses

PARIS -

Stock futures pointed to a slightly lower open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.04 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.12 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.05 percent at 06:15 a.m. EDT.

* The euro and European shares fell for a second day on Tuesday as investors worried about the uncertainty over a bailout for Cyprus aimed at preventing a debt default and banking collapse. <.EU>

* On the macro front, investors awaited housing starts and permits for February, due at 1230 GMT. Economists in a Reuters survey 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.

* 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 on Monday his company is not pursuing a sale of its two California refineries, putting an end to months of speculation over whether the refining major 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.

* Large telecommunications companies and Internet providers succeeded in convincing an advisory panel that the U.S. government should not pursue enforcement of security measures meant to bolster their defenses against the growing threat of cyber attacks, according to a report released late on Monday.

* 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.

* Rising U.S. home prices last year helped more homeowners get back above water on their mortgages in the fourth quarter, a fresh sign of improvement in the housing market, data from CoreLogic showed on Tuesday.

* Gleacher & Co, a small investment bank that has lost money in four of the last five years, said Monday that it is seeking shareholder approval for a reverse stock split.

* 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.

* The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI slipped 62.05 points, or 0.43 percent, to 14,452.06 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX shed 8.60 points, or 0.55 percent, to 1,552.10. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC dropped 11.48 points, or 0.35 percent, to close at 3,237.59.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson/editing by Chris Pizzey, London MPG Desk, +44 (0)207 542-4441)