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US futures point to modest rise on Wall St

Reuters - Thursday, July 3

* U.S. stock index futures <DJU8> <SPU8> <NDU8> are up between 0.15 and 0.21 percent, pointing to a rise at the start of trade, after Tuesday's rally on surprisingly strong auto sales at General Motors <GM.N> and a rebound in financial stocks.

* Shares in Starbucks <SBUX.O> rose by more than 3 percent in after-hours trading on Tuesday after the coffee store operator said it would cut 600 underperforming U.S. shops and cut up to 12,000 full- and part-time positions. Starbucks shares are up 5.4 percent from their last European close at 10.28 euros <SBUX.F.>.

* Blockbuster Inc <BBI.N> on Tuesday abandoned its offer to buy electronics retailer Circuit City Stores Inc <CC.N>, after weeks of investor speculation that the deal was falling apart. [nN01311841]

* American International Group Inc <AIG.N> said it paid a $47 million severance package to former Chief Executive Martin J. Sullivan, whose resignation took effect on Tuesday. [nN01301511]

* UBS cuts its price target on Merrill Lynch <MER.N>, Citigroup <C.N>, and JPMorgan <JPM.N>. The bank says it expects Merrill to register a 2008 loss per share of $2.55 and will need to raise capital, while it expects JPMorgan to write down about $1.4 billion in the second quarter of this year. [nWNA8308]

* The economic diary includes weekly mortgage market data, the ADP private-sector employment report for June, revised durable goods orders and factory orders. The data highlight of the week will be Thursday's non-farm payrolls report for June, released a day early because of Friday's Independence Day holiday. The corporate diary contains no major S&P company earnings.

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