Wall Street set to open higher on Greek hopes

By Tanya Agrawal

REUTERS - Wall Street was set to open higher for the second straight session on Tuesday on expectations of a deal to prevent Greece from defaulting on loans and data pointing to a rebound in business investment spending plans in May.

Global markets were higher, with European shares climbing to a three-week high, extending the previous session's rally.

Athens presented new reform proposals which were cautiously welcomed by euro zone finance ministers on Monday, though the Eurogroup said the proposals required detailed study and that it would take several days to determine whether they can lead to an agreement.

"It now appears that we will have a short-term solution to the problem," said Andreas Clenow, hedge fund trader and principal at ACIES Asset Management.

U.S. stocks closed higher on Monday with the Nasdaq hitting a record high on Greece deal optimism, merger and acquisition activity and better-than-expected growth in existing home sales in May.

The Commerce Department said on Tuesday non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, rose 0.4 percent last month, offering a tentative sign of stabilization in the manufacturing sector after activity weakened early this year.

May data for new home sales and Federal Housing Finance Agency house price index for April is expected at 10:00 a.m. ET. Financial data firm Markit releases Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index for June, which is expected to have slightly increased to 54.2 from 54.0 in May. That data is expected at 9:45 a.m. ET.

S&P 500 e-minis were up 3.75 points, or 0.18 percent, with 121,171 contracts traded at 8:48 a.m. Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 9 points, or 0.2 percent, on volume of 12,681 contracts while Dow e-minis were up 22 points, or 0.12 percent, with 13,725 contracts changing hands.

Darden Restaurants' shares rose 5.4 percent to $73.1 in premarket trading after the Olive Garden owner said it intends to separate a portion of its real estate assets into a real estate investment trust, proceeds of which will be used to pay down debt.

Green Dot jumped 29.6 percent to $19.85 after three brokerages raised their price targets on the stock after the company said it renewed agreement with Wal-Mart Stores as issuing bank for MoneyCard prepaid reloadable cards.

Momo was up 7.3 percent at $16.84 after the Chinese social media company received a "going private" proposal from its CEO.

(Editing by Don Sebastian)