Wall Street looked for a slightly higher open on Wednesday after the International Monetary Fund said the global economy was starting to pull out of recession, offsetting investor anxiety over the start of quarterly earnings season.

* After a rally took the S&P 500 index up 40 percent from 12-year lows in early March, traders are looking for hard evidence that the economy will rebound from a deep recession.

* But corporate earnings are seen to be weak. Alcoa Inc , the first Dow component to report earnings, is expected to post its third consecutive quarterly loss after markets close on falling demand for aluminum.

* S&P 500 futures rose 1.7 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 added 1 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 3.25 points.

(Reporting by Leah Schnurr; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

Investment