Stock index futures rose sharply on Friday after French President Nicolas Sarkozy hinted at a deal to resolve the Greek debt crisis that has hampered equities and worried investors over a possible credit dry-up.

Sarkozy said there was no time to lose on agreeing on a program for Greece, suggesting a deal needed to be reached in July at the latest.

We want to go as quickly as possible without fixing a date, Sarkozy said after meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, adding that the pair had the same position on Greece.

Analysts saw his comments as a balm for spooked investors. After a couple of volatile sessions earlier this week, the market is taking Sarkozy's words as comfort and that is translating into a rebound this morning, said Andre Bakhos, director of market analytics at Lek Securities in New York.

With the Greek situation being a key focal point, sensitivities run high and investors are quick to react.

The euro reversed its recent trend to gain more than 0.5 percent against the U.S. dollar, and European equities turned positive for the day after Sarkozy's statement. The FTSEurofirst 300 index <.FTEU3> rose 0.5 percent in morning trade.

S&P 500 futures rose 10.7 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 gained 90 points and Nasdaq 100 futures added 15.75 points.

Economic data on tap includes the Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers preliminary June consumer sentiment index, due at 9:55 a.m. EDT. Economists in a Reuters survey expect a reading of 74.0 compared with 74.3 in the final May report.

Economically, on the home front data has been weaker than expected and investors are looking for positive numbers to reverse that trend, Bakhos said. Until then, there will be hesitancy to go into the market.

Shares of Research In Motion Ltd tumbled 15.3 percent to $29.91 in premarket trading after the BlackBerry maker posted a drop in quarterly profit and forecast current-quarter earnings sharply below already pessimistic estimates.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; additional reporting by European bureaus; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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