Wall Street stocks were set for a sharply higher open on Tuesday as upbeat Chinese and German data boosted optimism about the global economy after the S&P 500 index ended flat in 2011.

Global markets rallied, including in Asia where data showed improvement in Chinese manufacturing, while European shares also rose, led by mining stocks after the Chinese data lifted hopes that demand would be strong for metals.

China, the world's largest consumer of metals, avoided contraction in December, albeit slightly. Also boosting sentiment, German unemployment fell more than forecast.

Investors could get more signals about a U.S. economic recovery, with data from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Index of National Factory Activity for December as well as November construction spending, both due at 10 a.m. EST.

November construction spending is expected to show a gain of 0.5 percent, versus 0.8 percent, according to a Reuters survey of economists. The ISM manufacturing index is forecast rising to 53.2 percent in December from 52.7 percent in the previous month.

The Federal Open Market Committee will release minutes from its December 13 meeting is due at 2 p.m. ET.

A combination of beginning of the year giddiness and better than expected economic data in Asia and in Europe has the S&P futures well bid, said Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co in New York.

But the euro zone debt crisis will still be on investors' minds on the first trading day of the new year.

In a guest column in German newspaper Boersen-Zeitung, Jens Weidmann, the head of the Bundesbank and a European Central Bank Governing Council member, said the ECB needs to resist the current pressure to become the lender of last resort for governments.

S&P 500 futures rose 21.3 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 jumped 195 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 39 points.

The broad S&P 500 ended flat for 2011. It lost a mere 0.003 percent, the closest to unchanged since 1947, according to Standard & Poor's.

In company news, 3M Co added heft to its office supplies business that includes Post-it Notes and Scotch tape brands, acquiring Avery Dennison Corp's office and consumer products unit. Avery Dennison shares rose 4 percent to $29.83 in light premarket trade, while 3M added 1.9 percent to $83.27.

Barclays Capital downgraded five semiconductor stocks including Intel Corp , saying the sector is in for a volatile 2012 as an inventory correction extends into the first quarter.

Intel shares were up 1.4 percent at $24.58 premarket.

Starbucks Corp shares will be in view after the coffee shop chain said it was raising prices in the U.S. Northeast and Sunbelt by an average of about 1 percent. The stock rose 2.4 percent to $47.12 premarket.

Jefferies & Co upgraded American Eagle Outfitters Inc and Ann Inc to buy, saying U.S. specialty retailers could see better margins this year due to a slow but ongoing consumer recovery, combined with normalized cotton costs. Shares of American Eagle Outfitters rose 3.1 percent in premarket trade at $15.77.

The Thomson Reuters/PayNet small business lending index showed borrowing by small U.S. businesses hit its highest level in nearly four years in November and suggested an economy recovery was gathering momentum.

(Reporting By Angela Moon; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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