U.S. stock index futures signal higher start

* U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq 100 all up 0.5 percent at 0807 GMT.

* Japan's Nikkei share average rose 0.4 percent after the finance ministry, reacting to the yen hitting a one-month high against the dollar, warned that it would intervene if necessary to curb excessive movements in the currency market.

* European shares made fragile gains in early trade, but kept within their tight short-term range, in case recent weak U.S. economic data prompts the Federal Reserve to give fresh clues about further stimulus later in the session.

* The Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, testifies before the U.S. Senate Banking Committee at 1400 GMT. Financial markets will scour the testimony for any clues on how close the Fed may be to launching another round of bond purchases to support the flagging U.S. recovery.

* Goldman Sachs, Wall Street's biggest investment bank, reports results for the second quarter before the market open. Earnings per share are seen at $1.13 in the quarter, during which trading and dealmaking activity slowed because of the European debt crisis, down from $1.85 in Q2 2011.

* Johnson & Johnson is expected to report a 1 cent increase in quarterly EPS to $1.29, as sales of newer drugs help offset weak sales of consumer medicines that have been recalled over the past three years due to quality-control issues.

* Coca-Cola's quarterly report, expected to show EPS of $1.19 from $1.17 in Q2 2011, may reveal some clues about consumer spending around the world, and about beverage demand during a recent heat wave in the United States.

* Search engine Yahoo, toy-maker Mattel and bank State Street are among other S&P 500 companies due to report quarterly results before the market open on Tuesday, while chip-maker Intel posts its results after the close.

* Yahoo picked Google's Marissa Mayer to become its new CEO, turning to an engineer with established Silicon Valley credentials to turn around the struggling former Internet powerhouse.

* The television analytics company TiVo Inc is expected to announce on Tuesday that it has acquired full ownership in TRA, a research company that has found success in recent years with a system that matches up television viewing with consumer buying habits, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

* The Labour Dept releases the June Consumer Price Index at 1230 GMT, forecast to have stayed unchanged compared with a 0.3 percent drop in May. Excluding volatile food and energy items, CPI is forecast to rise 0.2 percent, a repeat of the May increase.

* Morgan Stanley lowered its 2012 U.S. auto sales projections by about 3 percent and cut its earnings-per-share estimates for the North American auto sector due to weaker-than-expected sales in the United States and Europe.

* The Federal Reserve releases industrial production and capacity utilization data for June at 1315 GMT. Economists expect a 0.3 percent rise in production and a reading of 79.2 percent for capacity utilization. In May, production fell 0.1 percent and capacity utilization was 79.0 percent.

* The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo issues its July housing market index at 1400, expected to come in at 30 versus 29 in June.

* The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 49.88 points, or 0.39 percent, to 12,727.21 on Monday. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 3.14 points, or 0.23 percent, to 1,353.64. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 11.53 points, or 0.40 percent, to 2,896.94. (Reporting By Francesco Canepa in London; Editing by Hugh Lawson)