U.S. Stock Futures Signal Higher Open for Equities

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open for equities on Wall Street Friday, with futures for the S&P 500, for the Dow Jones and for the Nasdaq 100 rising 0.3 to 0.6 percent.

* The Labor Department will release at 1330 GMT the November Consumer Price Index. Economists expect a 0.1 percent rise, compared with a 0.1 percent drop in October.

* Fitch Ratings, the third-biggest of the major credit rating agencies, on Thursday downgraded Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and five other large banks based in Europe and the United States, citing increased challenges in the financial markets.

* The Labor Department issues at 1330 GMT Real Earnings data for November. Economists predict real earnings to rise 0.1 percent, versus a 0.3 percent increase in October.

* U.S. lawmakers on Thursday reached a tentative deal to fund an array of government agencies through Sept. 30 and avert shutting down many of Washington's operations starting this weekend.

* Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext have stepped up their lobbying with an advertising campaign to pressure EU regulators and secure approval for their $9 billion merger.

* Research In Motion posted a sharp drop in profit on Thursday, offered a dismal outlook for BlackBerry shipments around Christmas and delayed the likely arrival of a make-or-break overhaul of its smartphones, sending its shares tumbling.

* Private equity firm Apollo Global Management said its affiliates would buy Belgian chemicals company Taminco for around 1.1 billion euros ($1.4 billion) from CVC Capital Partners.

* Shares in Adobe Systems were up 6.8 percent after the bell on Thursday as the company reported results.

* Cameron International Corp said BP Plc had agreed to indemnify the company for current and future compensatory claims associated with the Deepwater Horizon incident.

* U.S. insurance broker Brown & Brown Inc said it had agreed to buy Arrowhead General Insurance Agency Inc for $395 million in cash.

* Delta Petroleum Corp filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection early on Friday, a month after the U.S. oil and gas producer warned about its liquidity issues.

* United Technologies Corp said on Thursday it expected to increase profits by 6 to 10 percent in 2012, despite a slowing U.S. recovery and what it expects to be a prolonged slump in Europe.

* European stocks <.FTEU3> rose on Friday, extending the previous session's tentative rebound from a week-long drop, helped by better-than-feared U.S. macro data, but lingering concerns over the euro zone debt crisis kept gains in check.

* The yuan jumped to a record high on Friday against the dollar on suspected intervention orchestrated by the central bank, its most explicit action in three months to deter speculators from betting on a fall in the currency.

* U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, as signs of strength in the economy and higher-than-expected profit at FedEx outweighed more warnings about Europe.

* The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 45.33 points, or 0.38 percent, at 11,868.81. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was up 3.93 points, or 0.32 percent, at 1,215.75. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 1.70 points, or 0.07 percent, at 2,541.01.

(Reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)