Futures up, Alcoa to launch earnings season

NEW YORK, Apr 10 (Reuters) U.S. stock index futures rose slightly on Tuesday, suggesting the Dow may make an attempt at notching an eighth straight day of gains, but the start of the earnings season may foil the winning streak.

Global stocks continued their march higher, with the MSCI All-Country World Index .M reaching a lifetime high. Stock markets in Australia, Singapore and South Korea rose to records while Germany's DAX was at its highest in six and a half years in European morning trade. For details, see ID:nL10297965.

The first-quarter earnings season for U.S. companies unofficially begins after the closing bell when aluminum maker Alcoa Inc.

announces its results.

The outlook for earnings growth has slipped, with expectations for Standard&Poor's 500 companies falling to a 5.0 percent rise in earnings compared with a year ago. That is down from a 9.2 percent growth estimate when the quarter began, according to Reuters Estimates.

''The fact we're about to enter into single-digit earnings growth isn't going to be the problem, the problem may be in the guidance,'' said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners in New York. ''We're at the upper-end of the range, so the market is ripe for a pullback.'' S&P 500 futures were up 0.2 point, above fair value, a mathematical formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract.

Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 6 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 3.75 points.

The major U.S. indexes have retraced most of their losses from late February when markets around the world tumbled, led lower by a 9 percent drop in China's main stock index. The Dow is 63.12 points away from recovering, the S&P is 4.76 points away and the Nasdaq is 35.34 points away.

Citigroup's chief executive plans to cut or reassign more than 26,000 jobs, or 8 percent of its work force, when he announces a major overhaul of the bank on Wednesday, the New York Times said on Tuesday ID:nN10362136.

On Monday the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI> rose 8.94 points, or 0.07 percent, to end at 12,569.14. The Standard&Poor's 500 Index .SPX> gained 0.85 point, or 0.06 percent, to finish at 1,444.61. But the Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC> dipped 2.16 points, or 0.09 percent, to close at 2,469.18.

REUTERS CS PM1648