Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.14 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.08 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.24 percent by 4.01 a.m. ET.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Apple Inc appears to be working on a new iPhone model for No. 1 U.S. mobile carrier Verizon Wireless.

Verizon Communications Inc shares surged on the news, rising 3.4 percent in after-hours trading, and Apple shares gained 1 percent, while the shares of AT&T Inc, the current exclusive carrier of the iPhone in the United States, fell 2.2 percent.

Shares of Apple traded in Frankfurt were 1.7 percent higher, while shares of Verizon advanced 2.8 percent.

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn said on Monday his $6-a-share offer for Lions Gate Entertainment is fair and that the only reason that the company's stock is trading above $6 is because of him.

U.S. property-casualty insurer Chubb Corp said on Monday it expected about $290 million in before-tax charges from catastrophe losses in the first quarter.

Private equity firms Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co and CVC have teamed up to bid for Interactive Data Corp , yet another private equity team formed in recent weeks as an auction for the financial market data provider progresses, two sources familiar with the matter said.

Blockbuster Inc said on Monday it was not in compliance with a New York Stock Exchange rule requiring listed companies to have a global market capitalization of $75 million over a 30-day trading period. It has 45 days to submit a plan showing how it aims to return to compliance within 18 months.

Boston Scientific Corp , which pulled its implantable heart defibrillators from the U.S. market two weeks ago, indicated on Monday it could be another two weeks before it could begin selling them again.

GenVec Inc has discontinued a pivotal trial of its experimental gene therapy drug in patients with pancreatic cancer because interim results showed it was unlikely to prove effective.

McDonald's Corp expects to have more than 2,000 stores in mainland China by the end of 2013 and predicted a good first quarter for same-store sales in Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa, the region's president Tim Fenton told Reuters on Tuesday.

U.S. drug maker Eli Lilly plans to launch 15 new products in China in the next five years, chief executive John Lechleiter said on Tuesday, while urging China to be more vigilant on intellectual property rights.

Oil was steady above $82 on Tuesday after hitting the highest level in almost two weeks a day earlier on optimism about the global economic recovery.

Tuesday's economic diary includes the January S&P/Case-Shiller index, due at 1330 GMT, and March Consumer confidence data, due at 1400 GMT.

Japan's Nikkei average climbed 1 percent to an 18-month closing high on Tuesday, led by commodity-related shares, while European stocks gained 0.3 percent in morning trade, propelled by miners and Swiss bank UBS .

U.S. stocks rose on Monday as miners and energy companies advanced on dollar weakness and investors bought recent high fliers as the quarter's end approached.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 45.50 points, or 0.42 percent, to 10,895.86, it's highest close since September 2008. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> climbed 6.63 points, or 0.57 percent, to 1,173.22. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> jumped 9.23 points, or 0.39 percent, to 2,404.36.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson, editing by Will Waterman)

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