* Feb housing starts show surprise jump
* Alcoa down pre-open after dividend, spending cuts
* Home Depot rises after broker upgrade
* S&P 500 futures up 0.70 pts, Dow up 7, Nasdaq up 2.50
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click []
(Recasts first paragraph, updates prices)
By Ellis Mnyandu
NEW YORK, March 17 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were set to open
flat to slightly higher on Tuesday, with sentiment underpinned
by data showing a surprise jump in U.S. housing starts and by
hopes that banks may be seeing some stabilization.
Bank stocks rising before the bell included JPMorgan
<JPM.N> , up 2.2 percent at $23.59. Citigroup <C.N> climbed 2.1
percent to $2.38. Recent comments from top executives of some
major U.S. banks, including Citigroup, that they are off to a
strong start in 2009 have buoyed optimism about the banking
sector.
Shares of home improvement retailer Home Depot <HD.N>, a
Dow component, climbed 3 percent to $20.74 before the bell
after a brokerage recommended the stock as a "buy." For
details, see []
"We have seen a very sharp acceleration in housing starts,
but that might not be part of a trend. It could just be part of
our having seen such a large decline earlier," said Steve
Goldman, market strategist at Weeden & Co in Greenwich,
Connecticut.
U.S. housing starts for February unexpectedly rebounded,
surging 22.2 percent, according to a government report.
[]
"We're more or less seeing a little rise in the futures,
and I would say that generally, investors may look at the
housing data as a little bit of a positive," Goldman said.
S&P 500 futures <SPM9> inched up 0.70 points and were above
fair value, a formula to evaluate pricing by taking into
account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the
contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures <DJM9> rose 7
points, and Nasdaq 100 <NDM9> futures edged up 2.50 points.
But bellwether Alcoa Inc's <AA.N> decision to cut its
spending and dividend fueled caution. The company's
announcement late on Monday provided one more clear sign of the
widening impact of the economic slump. For details, see
[]
Alcoa shares were off 10.9 percent to $5.45 before the
bell. Any sign of more deterioration in the economy will
present a significant hurdle for a market trying to sustain a
rebound from 12-year lows reached earlier this month.
Tuesday also marks the start of the Federal Reserve's 2-day
policy-setting meeting.
With the the U.S. central bank having cut interest rates
close to zero, investors' focus will be on whether it would buy
long-dated government debt as an additional measure to revive
the economy.
(Additional reporting by Ryan Vlastelica; Editing by Chizu
Nomiyama)
