Stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open on Wall Street on Thursday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.14 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.12 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.18 percent.

On Thursday, European Union leaders hold what is likely to be a tense and difficult summit, divided over how to help heavily indebted Greece and struggling to maintain confidence in the euro.

Diplomatic efforts on the eve of the two-day summit failed to bridge differences over whether to offer a safety net to Greece, helping push the euro down to a 10-month low.

The Dubai government unveiled plans to recapitalize its indebted Dubai World flagship and repay Nakheel bonds in full, injecting what it said was $9.5 billion in new funding, but without new aid from Abu Dhabi.

Troubled U.S. bond insurer Ambac Financial Group Inc said on Thursday it was open to seeking a negotiated restructuring of its debt through a pre-packaged bankruptcy proceeding.

Defense contractor Raytheon Co announced on Wednesday a 21 percent rise in its annual dividend and the repurchase of up to $2 billion of additional common shares.

Toys R Us Inc reported higher quarterly earnings on Wednesday as strong sales of toys offset weak demand for video games in the holiday shopping season.

Schlumberger Ltd is buying French drilling analysis firm Geoservices for just over $1 billion, further consolidating a sector that is grappling with flat energy demand and weakened margins.

Software maker Red Hat Inc issued a profit forecast below Wall Street projections and reported a quarterly indicator of new sales that disappointed some analysts, sending its shares down 3.6 percent.

Caterpillar Inc said on Wednesday it sees a roughly $100 million after-tax charge to earnings in the first quarter as a result of a new law that will lower the company's tax deductions.

Dell Inc said it was confident it would continue to take share in the server market, as the company announced new servers designed for large cloud computing environments.

Avon Products Inc became the second major U.S. company this week to say Venezuela's currency weakness would take a bigger bite out of earnings than originally expected, due to an accounting change based on guidance from U.S. securities regulators.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, saddled with debt of about $3.7 billion, could face a potential delay in the auction to sell itself after its debt holders signaled an unwillingness to settle for a low price, the Wall Street Journal said.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Wednesday U.S. house prices appeared to have bottomed out but were still fragile and that the country would not be out of crisis until prices stabilized.

European stocks were up 0.4 percent in morning trade, led by buoyant banks after the Dubai debt deal and ahead of the EU summit, while Japan's Nikkei average rose 0.1 percent on Thursday.

U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday as Portugal's credit rating downgrade and a weak Treasury note auction stirred concerns about sovereign debt. The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> fell 52.68 points, or 0.48 percent, to close at 10,836.15. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> slipped 6.45 points, or 0.55 percent, to end at 1,167.72. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> dropped 16.48 points, or 0.68 percent, to close at 2,398.76.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson, editing by Will Waterman)

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