INVESTMENT

U.S. stocks weakened on Tuesday as disappointing sales from Johnson & Johnson stirred jitters about the strength of earnings, snapping the S&P 500's six-day winning streak.

Two prospective jurors who wrote comments about wrongdoing and bending the rules on Wall Street were rejected by a U.S. judge on Tuesday for the trial of two former Bear Stearns Cos hedge fund managers on fraud charges.

U.S. stocks weakened on Tuesday as disappointing sales from Johnson & Johnson stirred jitters about the strength of earnings, threatening to break the S&P 500's six-day winning streak.

Executives from two of the United States' biggest home mortgage lenders said the nation's housing market is still in a tenuous state despite signs of stability over the summer months.

The Dow and S&P 500 fell on Tuesday after Johnson & Johnson reported disappointing third-quarter sales, while the Nasdaq edged up after Cisco Systems Inc announced a large acquisition.

Stocks traded mixed on Tuesday on the heels of a six-day streak of gains, after Johnson & Johnson's third-quarter sales disappointed investors and stirred doubts about the strength of the latest earnings season.

United States Natural Gas Fund, an exchange-traded fund in the natural gas market, reiterated on Tuesday that it could invest in interests other than futures contacts to comply with accountability levels and position limits.

Bank of America Corp agreed to give federal authorities more information about why it refrained from disclosing details about Merrill Lynch's performance before it bought the investment bank, U.S. regulators said on Tuesday.

Brazil's Cetip, Latin America's largest clearing house, anticipates fetching up to 1 billion reais ($576 million) in an offering of stock, underscoring the growing appetite for the nation's booming securities industry among local and foreign investors.

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, a real estate investment trust, plans to raise up to $402.5 million in an initial public offering to buy high end hotels in major U.S. cities, according to a regulatory filing.

Stock futures turned mostly lower on Tuesday as Johnson & Johnson's third-quarter sales figures disappointed investors, offsetting a lift from higher commodity prices that rose with the weaker U.S. dollar.

Bank of America-Merrill Lynch has hired Tan Chong Lee, who was last at Goldman Sachs, as its head of Southeast Asia investment banking, two sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

Bank of America Corp agreed to waive legal privileges linked to its purchase of Merrill Lynch, in a step that could force the bank to hand over more details of how much it knew when it bought the investment bank, federal regulators said on Tuesday.

* U.S. stock index futures rose slightly on Tuesday as investors awaited earning reports from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) and Intel Corp (INTC.O).

Stock futures rose slightly on Tuesday as investors awaited earning reports from Johnson & Johnson and Intel Corp .

Carlyle Group [CYL.UL] co-founder David Rubenstein said the private equity industry will grow larger than before its bubble burst, as it transforms itself over the next two to three years.

India's United Spirits (UNSP.BO), is set to sell new shares worth about $300-350 million to institutions to help cut its debt, after efforts to sell a stake to private equity firms and Diageo (DGE.L) failed.

European shares were lower at midday on Tuesday, dragged down by financials ahead of earnings news from major U.S. banks and after prominent sector analyst Meredith Whitney downgraded her rating on Goldman Sachs (GS.N).

* U.S. stock index futures pointed to a slightly lower opening on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 SPc1 down 0.13 percent, Dow Jones DJc1 futures down 0.11 percent and Nasdaq 100 NDc1 futures down 0.06 percent at 0830 GMT.

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a slightly lower opening on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500 down 0.13 percent, Dow Jones futures down 0.11 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures down 0.06 percent at 4.30 a.m. EDT.

World stocks fell from this week's one-year high on Tuesday as investors grew cautious ahead of major third-quarter U.S. corporate earnings, while risk-hungry investors drove the Australian dollar to a 14-month peak.