NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stock index futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Wednesday following the previous session’s strong rally, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.5 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.4 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.4 percent at 0944 GMT.

* European shares edged up, rising for the sixth straight session, as energy stocks rallied, but the gains were capped by renewed euro zone worries.

* The premium that investors demand to hold 10-year Spanish government bonds, rather than euro zone benchmark German Bunds, hit a euro lifetime high as investors’ concerns about Spain’s debt mounted.

* The euro — used to assess investors’ risk appetite in the current climate of jitters about Europe’s debt crisis — hit a two-week high, before trimming gains, lacking the momentum to break nearby resistance.

* On the macro front, The Commerce Department releases data on May housing starts and permits, at 1230 GMT, the Labor Department releases the May Producer Price Index (PPI) at 1230 GMT, and the Federal Reserve releases May industrial production and capacity utilization data, at 1315 GMT.

* Energy stocks will be in the spotlight as U.S. President Barack Obama, seeking to demonstrate strong leadership on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, will demand on Wednesday that BP (BP.L) set aside billions of dollars to pay damages from the catastrophe.

A day after he vowed to fight the spill “with everything we’ve got,” Obama was to meet at the White House at 1415 GMT with the energy group’s executives, the first time he as done so since the crisis began nearly two months ago.

* Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAC.N) has ordered its traders not to enter into oil trades with BP Plc (BP.L) that extend beyond June 2011, a market source familiar with the directive told Reuters.

* Fitch Ratings on Tuesday changed its outlook on Anadarko Petroleum Corp (APC.N) to negative, from stable, citing increasing estimates of damages the company is likely to need to pay as a result of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

* Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc (CCE.N) predicted 2010 earnings growth on Tuesday that was slightly better than its prior forecast, citing positive second-quarter trends.

* Customers trying to reserve the latest version of the iPhone were thwarted by technical glitches that hindered sales on Tuesday, the first day of pre-orders before the device hits stores on June 24.

* Mylan Inc (MYL.O) is being probed by the U.S. securities regulator on whether it shared market-sensitive information on its third-quarter earnings with a few investors before making it public, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

* U.S. shares surged on Tuesday as investors went on a buying spree, pushing the S&P 500 above its 200-day moving average for the first time in a month, suggesting the recent downtrend may be nearing an end.

* The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI gained 213.88 points, or 2.10 percent, to 10,404.77. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index .SPX gained 25.60 points, or 2.35 percent, to 1,115.23. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC gained 61.92 points, or 2.76 percent, to 2,305.88.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by Louise Heavens)

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(Reuters) – Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.16 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.16 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.1 percent at 5:06 a.m. ET.

Companies set to report quarterly earnings include Dow component Caterpillar Inc (CAT.N), Boston Scientific (BSX.N), Texas Instruments (TXN.N) and BlackRock Inc (BLK.N).

Greece’s finance minister said on Sunday that aid will arrive in time to avert the euro zone’s first sovereign debt default as signs grew that a 45 billion-euro ($60.49 billion) rescue would have to be bigger.

Greece’s debt troubles dominated weekend talks among world financial leaders in Washington after Athens bowed to intense pressure from markets and requested funds from the European Union and the IMF in what would be the first bailout of a euro zone member.

The two Democratic Senators charged with writing rules for the $450 trillion private swaps market are near a deal, and will include a provision to require banks to spin off swaps desks, people familiar with the talks said on Sunday.

UAL Corp’s (UAUA.O) United Airlines and Continental Airlines (CAL.N) disagree over the price of a potential stock-for-stock merger, according to source familiar with the situation.

U.S. car rental firm Hertz Global Holdings Inc (HTZ.N) had agreed to buy smaller rival Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc (DTG.N) for about $1.2 billion to boost its presence in the leisure rental market.

Japan’s Canon Inc (7751.T) raised its annual outlook closer to market expectations on Monday after posting a more than fourfold jump in quarterly profit on brisk demand for digital cameras and printers.

U.S. clinical research company Charles River Laboratories International (CRL.N) said on Monday it had agreed to buy China’s WuXi PharmaTech (WX.N) for $1.6 billion to expand its contract research and drug development services.

U.S. industrials group Emerson Electric (EMR.N) has made a 723 million pounds ($1.1 billion) approach for Chloride Group (CHLD.L) in its second attempt to buy the power protection company to strengthen its position in Europe.

Best Buy (BBY.N), the world’s No.1 electricals retailer, will do whatever it takes to succeed in the UK, joint venture partner Carphone Warehouse (CPW.L) said as it raised profit expectations for the third time in six months.

Oil edged higher on Monday with Brent touching an 18-month high, as robust U.S. economic data boosted hopes of a sustained recovery in the world’s largest energy user, but dollar strength capped oil’s gains.

European stocks were up 1 percent in morning trade, led by banking shares such as BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) and Barclays on easing worries over Greece’s debt woes .EU, while Japan’s Nikkei average jumped 2.3 percent.

U.S. stocks rose to a 19-month high on Friday as Merck eased concerns about the impact of healthcare reform, saying its costs will be relatively low.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI gained 69.99 points, or 0.63 percent, to 11,204.28. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index .SPX rose 8.61 points, or 0.71 percent, to 1,217.28. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC added 11.08 points, or 0.44 percent, to 2,530.15.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by Hans Peters)

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – Rural phone company CenturyTel Inc (CTL.N) said on Thursday it will buy Qwest Communications International Inc (Q.N) for about $10.6 billion in stock.

Deals

The deal combines two of the largest landline telephone companies in the United States. Qwest shareholders will receive 0.1664 CenturyTel shares for each share of Qwest common stock they own.

Based on CenturyTel’s closing price on Wednesday, the Qwest shares holders would receive an equivalent of $6.02 of CenturyTel stock, which represents a premium of about 15 percent over Qwest’s closing stock price.

CenturyTel, which is changing its name to CenturyLink, said the transaction reflects an enterprise value of Qwest of about $22.4 billion, including the assumption of $11.8 billion of Qwest net debt outstanding.

Qwest shares were up 9.7 percent, or 51 cents, to $5.75 in premarket trading.

(Reporting by Franklin Paul; Editing by Derek Caney)

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures fell on Thursday as Greece’s financial position appeared to deteriorate, hurting risk appetite.

Greece

Doubts over Greece’s ability to finance itself have triggered negative investor sentiment in recent months. On Thursday, the European Union reported that Greece, as well as Ireland, had much larger budget deficits last year than had been expected.

Bank shares could also be pressured by a speech by U.S. President Barack Obama scheduled for 11:55 a.m. EDT, in which he is expected to tap into widespread anger at large financial institutions to make his case for stronger regulation over Wall Street.

S&P 500 futures fell 7.3 points and were below 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 dropped 46 points and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 13.5 points.

Adding to the negative tone, shares in Hong Kong and China fell overnight as government measures to cool surging home prices weighed on property and banking stocks. Investors see any move to cool down the Chinese economy as detrimental to the global economic rebound.

Data set for release on Thursday include weekly jobless claims and producer prices for March at 8:30 a.m. EDT, and U.S. March existing home sales at 10 a.m.

Nokia’s (NOK1V.HE) (NOK.N) quarterly earnings report disappointed investors after it cut its profit outlook for its key phone unit. Its U.S. -traded shares tumbled almost 13 percent to $13.02.

Also on the tech front, Microsoft (MSFT.O) is expected to post third-quarter results after the market close. Other firms reporting on Thursday include The Hershey Co (HSY.N), Amazon.com (AMZN.O), American Express Co (AXP.N), Verizon (VZ.N) and PepsiCo (PEP.N).

Jitters over Goldman Sachs’ (GS.N) fraud allegations are expected to linger after German state bank BayernLB BAYLB.UL said it had severed business ties with the Wall Street bank over the charges, while France eyed an investigation of its own.

Chipmaker Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) gave on Wednesday a weak forecast for the current quarter and full year, sending its stock down more than 7 percent in premarket trading.

Shares of Internet auctioneer and retailer EBay Inc (EBAY.O), also dropped more than 7 percent in light premarket trading after it gave a forecast that fell short of Wall Street expectations.

U.S. stocks finished little changed on Wednesday as disappointing outlooks from healthcare companies offset strong earnings from Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and Apple Inc (AAPL.O).

( Reporting by Rodrigo Campos, editing by W Simon )

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