u.s. stock futures down

* U.S. stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall
Street on Tuesday as investors braced for aluminum producer
Alcoa's quarterly results that will kick-start a keenly
awaited U.S. earnings season.

* At 0845 GMT, futures for the S&P 500 were down 0.9
percent, Dow Jones futures were down 0.8 percent and
Nasdaq 100 futures were down 0.7 percent.

* European shares surrendered initial gains and turned
negative in morning trade on Tuesday, down 1.1 percent.

* On the macro side, the Bank of Japan unveiled further
steps to ease credit strains on Tuesday, while Australia's
central bank cut its key cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.00
percent, the sixth easing in eight months.

* Toxic debts racked up by banks and insurers could spiral
to $4 trillion, new forecasts from the International Monetary
Fund are set to suggest, British daily The Times reported on its
website without citing sources. The IMF said in January that it
expected the deterioration in U.S.-originated assets to reach
$2.2 trillion by the end of next year.

* A half-dozen bidders have emerged for American
International Group Inc's asset-management unit, but the
sale of the $100 billion portfolio has become complicated by
client withdrawals and declines in asset prices.

* General Motors Corp's request for $10.3 billion in
loans under a U.S. Department of Energy program is now
contingent on the automaker's 60-day restructuring review, a top
GM executive said on Monday. "Treasury wants to fully understand
what our ultimate destiny is before giving us that (DOE) loan,"
GM Vice President of Research and Development and Strategic
Planning Larry Burns told Reuters on the sidelines of a product
briefing on Monday.

* Ford Motor Co said its investors agreed to exchange
$9.9 billion in debt for cash and stock, ratcheting up the
pressure on its struggling U.S. competitors that also are trying
to cut debt.

* A major client for Applied Materials Inc's solar
production gear has slashed its order by more than 85 percent to
$250 million, underscoring how a deepening recession is eroding
a once red-hot solar sector. Shares in Applied Materials, that
has been steadily expanding its solar capacity to offset slowing
sales of its semiconductor manufacturing equipment, slid 3.1
percent to $11.20 in after-hours trade.

* Bank of America's Merrill Lynch said on Tuesday
that it had recently closed the Tokyo office of Merrill Lynch
Global Private Equity, a major international investment arm of
the U.S bank. Sources with direct knowledge of the matter told
Reuters that the closure of its Tokyo office was due mainly to
lack of deal flow in Japan's private equity markets.

* U.S. shares snapped a four-session winning run on Monday
after a prominent analyst reignited fears over the health of
banks and the potential collapse of a takeover of Sun
Microsystems bruised sentiment in the technology sector. * The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 41.74 points,
or 0.52 percent, to 7,975.85. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index
<.SPX> lost 7.02 points, or 0.83 percent, to 835.48. The Nasdaq
Composite Index <.IXIC> was down 15.16 points, or 0.93 percent,
at 1,606.71.