U.S. stock futures signal gains; eyes on RIM

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Friday, as stocks were poised to add to the previous session's gains.

At 0900 GMT, futures for the S&P 500 were up 0.2 percent, Dow Jones futures were up 0.4 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures were up 0.4 percent.

BlackBerry smartphone maker Research In Motion will be in focus after it offered investors an outlook on Thursday that fell short of some expectations, sending the company's stock down 5 percent after the bell, even as the group reported a rise in quarterly profit that topped forecasts.

The International Monetary Fund is likely to revise its 2010 growth forecast for the world economy up with signs the rate of decline in global output has moderated, First Deputy Managing Director John Lipsky said. But he also said it was too early to declare victory, with financial conditions far from normal and the world economy still in recession.

Target on Thursday released the final vote count from its contentious annual meeting where investors soundly rejected dissident shareholder William Ackman's slate of five director nominees. Ackman got 19 percent of votes cast, while former Starbucks chief executive James Donald received 22 percent.

Bank of America Corp chief executive Ken Lewis was approached by three former Merrill Lynch executives this year to discuss buying back some or all of their old company, but he rebuffed them, the Financial Times reported on its website.

Chief executives of some banks that received federal money, including Bank of America Corp, Morgan Stanley and Regions Financial Corp , used company jets for personal use, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website. Flight records showed many occasions when banks receiving federal money flew planes to destinations near resorts or executives' vacation homes in Europe, Mexico, the Caribbean, south Florida and Aspen, according to the paper.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co is considering separating a plan that links buying its Amsterdam-listed fund with its own moves to list on the NYSE, a source familiar with the matter said, throwing further doubt on whether the private equity giant will list in New York.

European stocks were up 0.8 percent in morning trade in a broad rally, led by banks such as HSBC and Credit Suisse , oil majors such as BP and mining groups like Xstrata .

The Dow and S&P 500 rose on Thursday, halting a three-session losing run, as data on the job market and regional manufacturing rekindled hopes the recession-hit economy was stabilizing.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 58.42 points, or 0.69 percent, to 8,555.60. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> gained 7.66 points, or 0.84 percent, to 918.37. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was off just 0.34 of a point, or 0.02 percent, at 1,807.72.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by Dan Lalor)