Stock index futures pointed to a mixed open for equities on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.1 percent, for the Dow Jones up 0.1 percent and for the Nasdaq 100 up 0.1 percent.

The unofficial start of corporate earnings season kicks off on Monday when Alcoa , the largest U.S. producer of aluminum, reports after the bell.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co has agreed to acquire Inhibitex Inc for about $2.5 billion to gain access to its promising hepatitis C treatment, the companies said on Saturday.

The Conference Board releases its employment trend index for December at 1500 GMT. In the previous report, the index read 103.7.

The Federal Reserve issues consumer credit data at 2000 GMT. Economists forecast consumer credit will rise $7 billion versus a $7.65 billion increase in October.

The Federal Reserve has launched a potentially controversial push to revive the battered U.S. housing market, calling on other government officials to act after largely exhausting its own tools to support the fragile economic recovery.

China's banks ratcheted up lending in the last month of 2011 on the back of stronger money supply, reinforcing perceptions that the central bank is gently easing policy to cushion the impact of the global economic slowdown.

Best Buy Co appeared to gain market share from rivals in the United States during the key holiday season and stood by its profit outlook for the financial year, despite a 1.2 percent same-store sales decline in December.

Analysts and executives at the Detroit auto show expect 2012 U.S. auto sales to grow 4 percent to 9 percent, the third consecutive annual gain. The only reason automakers are not more bullish is the risk that the sovereign debt crisis in Europe may trigger a broader slowdown.

General Motors and its joint ventures sold 2.55 million vehicles in China in 2011, up 8.3 percent from a year earlier, the U.S. automaker said on Monday.

Oracle Corp can't appeal an order slashing its $1.3 billion copyright infringement verdict against SAP AG until it decides whether it will reject the lower, court-imposed damages award, a U.S. judge ruled on Friday.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday that his country would not recognize any ruling by a World Bank tribunal in a multibillion-dollar arbitration case with Exxon Mobil Corp .

Lions Gate Entertainment Corp is nearing a deal to buy Twilight movie producer Summit Entertainment for about $400 million, two people familiar with the matter said on Sunday.

European shares <.FTEU3> fell 0.3 percent in choppy trading on Monday, with heavyweight GlaxoSmithKline leading the healthcare sector lower after the release of a mixed batch of clinical trials results on a key new lung drug.

U.S. indexes closed mixed on Friday on worries about higher bond yields in Italy and Spain. The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> dropped 0.45 percent, the S&P 500 Index <.INX> fell 0.25 percent while the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> gained 0.16 percent.

Japanese markets were closed on Monday for a national holiday.

(Reporting by Francesco Canepa and Atul Prakash; Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford)