Stock index futures rose on Tuesday following an equities selloff the day before, but anxiety over Europe's debt crisis was seen keeping markets jittery ahead of the Federal Reserve's assessment of the U.S. economy.

Investors expect the U.S. central bank to hold off on offering the economy fresh stimulus as it weighs encouraging signs on the recovery against risks coming from Europe. A statement is due at about 2:15 p.m. EST.

The Commerce Department releases November retail sales at 8:30 a.m. EST. Economists in a Reuters survey expect sales to rise 0.6 percent, compared with a 0.5 percent increase in October.

Spain and Belgium's short-term borrowing costs dropped sharply at auctions on Tuesday, though yields remained painfully high for Madrid as nervous markets braced for a raft of potential euro zone rating downgrades.

S&P 500 futures rose 8 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration of the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures added 60 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 14 points.

At 10 a.m. EST <1500 GMT>, the Commerce Department will issue business inventories data for October.

Exchange operators NYSE Euronext and Deutsche Boerse offered to unload more assets to assuage European authorities' antitrust concerns over their proposed $9 billion merger.

On Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 1.34 percent, the S&P 500 <.SPX> dropped 1.49 percent and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> was off 1.31 percent.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

New york city NYSE Euronext