Indications: U.S. futures recover after sub-10,000 Dow close

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By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch

LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures were stronger Tuesday, recovering after the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished below the 10,000 mark for the first time since early November.

S&P 500 futures rose 7.6 points to 1,063.50 and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 12.75 points to 1,747.20. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 49 points.

U.S. stocks dropped Monday for the third time in four sessions, with the S&P 500 falling 0.9% and the Dow industrials falling over 1%. Investors weighed a report in The Wall Street Journal that Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will begin laying the groundwork for credit tightening later in the year as well as continued worries about the health of Southern European government finances.

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News that European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet was leaving a summit in Sydney a day earlier than planned helped to lift the euro and European equities on Tuesday.

A spokesman for the ECB said Trichet was always planning to attend a summit of European leaders scheduled for Thursday, but the market interpreted Trichet's departure as increasing the chances for a bailout package later this week. See related Europe Markets report.

Besides the European debt situation, Tuesday features results from companies including Coca-Cola /quotes/comstock/13*!ko/quotes/nls/ko (KO 52.65, -0.44, -0.83%) , Coventry Health Care /quotes/comstock/13*!cvh/quotes/nls/cvh (CVH 22.44, +0.07, +0.31%) and Pulte Homes /quotes/comstock/13*!phm/quotes/nls/phm (PHM 11.13, +0.25, +2.30%) .

Electronic Arts /quotes/comstock/15*!erts/quotes/nls/erts (ERTS 17.49, +0.23, +1.33%) may see pressure after a disappointing forecast from the video games maker.

UBS /quotes/comstock/13*!ubs/quotes/nls/ubs (UBS 12.84, -0.27, -2.06%) fell in Swiss trade after returning to a profit in the fourth quarter but reporting widening outflows.

A disappointing forecast from Macquarie Group hurt that bank in Sydney trade.

Elsewhere, there's an auction of $40 billion in three-year notes, and shortly after the open wholesale inventories data for December will be reported.

The Hang Seng rose 1.2% in Hong Kong, and commodity futures were stronger.

Steve Goldstein is MarketWatch's London bureau chief.