(Reuters) - Stock futures pointed to a higher start on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones industrial average and Nasdaq up 1.4-1.6 percent.
Highlights:
* Undercut by tight credit and a weak economy, November U.S. auto sales, due later in the day, are expected to have dropped by some 30 percent from a year earlier, extending a year-long downturn that has pushed Detroit-based automakers to the brink of failure.
Sales data from the major automakers, being released the same day the companies are set to submit updated restructuring plans as part of a bid to clinch a $25 billion loan package, are expected to show the industry posting annualized sales of near 11 million vehicles for the month, helped by heavy discounting.
* Shares of Sears Holdings, down about 65 percent in the past two months, may have further to fall if the weak U.S. economy further dampens sales at its Kmart and Sears, Roebuck stores
The retailer, controlled by hedge fund manager Edward Lampert, is expected to report a third-quarter loss of 49 cents a share compared to a profit of 1 cent a share a year earlier, according to Reuters Estimates.
* Redbook releases its Retail Sales Index of department and chain store sales for the week ended November 29 versus the previous week. In the prior period, sales fell 1.3 percent.
* Oil falls 1 percent to trade below the $50-per-barrel mark.
* On Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 7.7 percent, the Standard and Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> slid 8.93 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> lost 8.95 percent. (Reporting by Atul Prakash; editing by Simon Jessop)
