Futures point to mixed open for Wall Street

NEW YORK (Reuters) Stock index futures pointed to a mixed start for Wall Street on Friday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.1 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.1 percent and Nasdaq futures trading flat by 1012 GMT.

* Investors will eye corporate earnings due later in the session for further direction, with Bank of America and General Electric among firms to report fourth-quarter results.

* Bank of America is expected to report a profit of 14 cents per share, an improvement from a quarterly loss of 60 cents per share one year ago while General Electric is seen posting a 32 cents per share profit compared to 28 cents a year ago.

* Google Inc rose 2.2 percent to $640.79 in extended trade after the company reported better-than-expected net revenue for its fourth quarter, after markets closed.

* Stocks fell on Thursday as lackluster tech and materials earnings failed to live up to heightened expectations, threatening to short-circuit a seven-week run.

* A group of companies led by Brazilian beef processor JBS has arranged a financing package to bid for all or parts of Sara Lee Corp , a source with direct knowledge of the situation told Reuters on Thursday.

* American International Group's financial health is showing signs of improvement because of the billions of dollars in taxpayer funds used to bail out the ailing insurer, a government watchdog agency said on Thursday.

* Warner Music Group is looking for potential buyers and Goldman Sachs is advising on the process, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

* Swiss engineering group ABB's proposed acquisition of U.S. industrial motors firm Baldor Electric Co received U.S. regulatory clearance, both companies said in a joint statement on Thursday.

* Capital One Financial Corp's fourth-quarter profit rose 85 percent to $697 million, beating estimates, as losses on bad loans fell and consumers slowly started to take out new loans.

* Hewlett-Packard Co is shaking up a board criticized by many as dysfunctional, bringing in five new directors including former eBay chief Meg Whitman, as new CEO Leo Apotheker remakes the company.

* Eli Lilly & Co's imaging agent for Alzheimer's appears to help detect brain plaques associated with the memory disease but more data is needed to show the scans can be properly interpreted, U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisers said on Thursday.

* Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday launched a plan to replace President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul "branch by branch" with measures they say would bring down soaring costs.

* In Europe, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top shares rose in early trade, with commodity shares boosted by a rebound in metals prices which fell a day earlier on concerns over monetary tightening in China.

(Reporting by Harpreet Bhal; Editing by Erica Billingham)