Stock futures point to higher start for Wall Street

By 4:10 a.m. EST, futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite were up between 0.3 and 0.5 percent.

Citigroup Inc has held talks with private equity groups and hedge funds over the sale of $3 billion in car loans in a move to clear troubled assets from its balance sheet, according to a report in the Financial Times.

U.S. regulators are investigating whether the mortgage insurance market was improperly distressed in 2008 because of payment demands that Goldman Sachs Group Inc and other banks made on American International Group Inc , The New York Times reported on Sunday.

AIG Chief Executive Robert Benmosche envisions a smaller company in the future, with global property-casualty and U.S. life and annuity operations at its core, according to his comments in an internal company publication.

U.S. companies reporting earnings on Monday include Electronic Arts , the NYSE OMX , Loews Corp, Principal Financial Group and Hasbro.

Japan Airlines Corp <9205.T> will keep its partnership with American Airlines in the Oneworld alliance and end talks with Delta Air Lines and the rival SkyTeam group, the Asahi newspaper reported.

The chief executive of PIMCO, the world's biggest bond fund, voiced concerns about massive U.S. debt levels, saying he preferred to invest in German government bonds than Treasuries in the current environment.

The risk the U.S. economy will slip back into recession is lower now than at any time in the past year, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Sunday, while conceding that recovery will be slow and uneven.

Over the weekend, European finance ministers tried to assure their counterparts in the Group of Seven that the euro zone's debt crisis is under control. They said they would make sure Greece sticks with its budget cutting plans.

A small Minnesota bank was seized by regulators on Friday, bringing the tally of failed U.S. banks this year to 16 so far.

European equities rebounded on Monday from three-month lows in the previous session. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei average <.N225> sank 1.1 percent to a two-month closing low.

U.S. stocks erased a midday drop to end slightly higher on Friday, closing out a volatile week punctuated by mixed signals from the labor market data and growing anxiety over fiscal problems in Europe.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> closed up 10.05 points, or 0.10 percent, at 10,012.23. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> ended up 3.08 points, or 0.29 percent, at 1,066.19. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> gained 15.69 points, or 0.74 percent, to close at 2,141.12.

(Reporting by Dominic Lau; editing by John Stonestreet)

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