Wall Street to open higher on Greek debt hopes

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were poised for a higher open on Tuesday, after two straight down sessions, on hopes a deal in Greek debt negotiations was drawing closer.

Futures surged to a session high after MNSI reported the EU commission will propose a 6-month debt extension, citing sources.

The European Commission said there was no formal proposal for resolving Greece's debt problems although talks were intensive ahead of a series of meetings of euro zone finance ministers and EU leaders in Brussels.

"Markets have been driven by this Greek drama and, as it plays out in real time in front of us, anything that looks like we are getting closer in negotiations and resolution is certainly going to be positive here," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities in New York.

"Anything that makes us believe we can avoid a sloppy Greek exit is going to be a positive for markets overall, and that is where we are at right now."

S&P 500 e-mini futures were up 13.25 points and fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract, indicated a higher open. Dow Jones industrial average e-mini futures <1YMc1> rose 100 points and Nasdaq 100 e-mini futures added 24.25 points.

After a sluggish start to the year that saw the S&P 500 <.SPX> drop 3.1 percent in January, the index managed to notch its best gain in seven weeks last week on a rebound in oil prices. The S&P stands 2.1 percent below its record closing high on Dec. 29.

Coca-Cola Co shares climbed 3.7 percent to $42.76 before the opening bell. It reported a better-than-expected profit and sales in North America, its biggest market, rose for the first time in four quarters to offset the impact of a strong dollar on its overseas business.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc rose 6.1 percent to $75.60 premarket after the company posted quarterly results and announced plans to spin off its vacation ownership business.

Even with some high-profile earnings misses from multinationals, largely as a result of dollar strength, Thomson Reuters data through Monday morning showed 72.6 percent of the 328 S&P 500 companies reporting beat earnings expectations, above the 69 percent beat rate in the past four quarters.

Aeropostale jumped 17.8 percent to $3.11 before the opening bell after the apparel retailer reported better-than-expected holiday sales and boosted its fourth-quarter outlook.

Coupons.com tumbled 31.6 percent to $9.92 after a first-quarter and full-year 2015 revenue outlook fell short of expectations.

Economic data expected on Tuesday includes December wholesale trade at 10 a.m. EST. Expectations call for inventories to rise by 0.2 percent while sales are expected to decline by 0.3 percent. .

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Nick Zieminski)