Stock futures signal gains; Facebook eyed

PARIS (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.2 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.2 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.32 percent at 0911 GMT.

European stocks rose, keeping a four-week rally alive, as investors bet the European Central Bank will soon start buying Spanish and Italian bonds to help lower their borrowing costs and quell the region's debt crisis. <.EU>

Yields at a Spanish short-term debt auction dived on Tuesday, while Europe's volatility index VSTOXX <.V2TX> hit a one-month low, signaling a steady rise in investors' appetite for risk.

Facebook Inc will be in the spotlight again after a regulatory filing showed director Peter Thiel sold roughly $400 million worth of shares in the Internet social networking company last week, cashing out most of his stake.

The chief executives of Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd <005930.KS> have talked but did not settle the high stakes patent dispute between the two electronics companies, a Samsung attorney said in court on Monday.

Citigroup chief executive Vikram Pandit has rejected the idea of big banks being split up, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. Vikram Pandit said Citi , formed through mergers such as the acquisition of Travelers in 1998, had already gone back to the basics of banking, and had sold most of the units from that deal.

Global buyout fund KKR & Co L.P. has placed a bet on China's $38 billion youth apparel retail market, saying on Wednesday that it will acquire a stake in privately held retailer Novo Holdco Ltd for $30 million.

Nike Inc has come up with new rules for retailers, prompted by unruly crowds outside stores selling its shoes, the Wall Street Journal reported.

U.S. stocks were flat on Monday on signs of fatigue after a six-week run of gains as the European Central Bank quashed a report on what strategy it may use in any market intervention to stem the region's debt crisis.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> shed 3.48 points, or 0.03 percent, to 13,271.72. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> dipped 0.07 points, or 0.00 percent, to 1,418.09. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> lost 0.38 points, or 0.01 percent, to 3,076.21. (Reporting by Blaise Robinson; editing by Patrick Graham)