Stock index futures were little changed on Tuesday, while investors awaited data on the housing market, which remains one of the weakest segments of the economy.

Lending support to the market, a top Federal Reserve official said unacceptably high unemployment and well-contained inflation make it likely that U.S. monetary policy will continue to be accommodative for at least several more months.

On the economic front, existing home sales for February will be released at 10:00 a.m. EDT. Sales are expected to slip to 5 million in February from 5.05 million the month before, according to Reuters data. Other data includes the FHFA House Price Index for January, also at 10:00 a.m.

Existing home sales should bring some clarity to the economic picture. A positive number will add confidence the economy is on the right track and that the recession has been contained, said Andre Bakhos, president of Princeton Financial Group in North Brunswick, New Jersey.

Investors are eyeing a European Union summit later in the week that will tackle Greece's fiscal problems. Greece wants a European solution to its debt crisis and expects positive results from the summit, the country's finance minister said.

While German Chancellor Angela Merkel continued to rebuff calls for a support deal on Monday, a German newspaper reported EU leaders are aiming to present a compromise on aid for Greece before the start of the summit on Thursday.

Shares of Baidu Inc added 1.6 percent to $588.74 in light premarket trading after rival Google Inc shut down its mainland Chinese portal and began rerouting searches to its Hong Kong website.

Walgreen Co's shares inched up 0.5 percent to $35.49 after the top U.S. drugstore chain reported higher quarterly profit.

Companies still due to report quarterly results include Adobe Systems Inc and Jabil Circuit Inc .

S&P 500 futures slipped 0.5 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures gained 9 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 0.75 points.

Time Warner Inc , Lions Gate Entertainment Corp and billionaire Len Blavatnik's Access Industries put up rival bids of $1.2 billion to $1.5 billion for film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc , sources told Reuters.

Stocks rose on Monday, building on last week's strength, as the passage of a bill overhauling healthcare ended much of the uncertainty for investors.

After initially trading lower, the Dow rebounded to finish at a 17-month high and post its ninth gain in 10 sessions.

(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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