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 * Global stocks fell to their lowest in more than two years, reeling
under pressure from weak raw material prices.
* Goldman Sachs said it expects sales growth for S&P 500 companies
in aggregate to shrink this year for the first time in five years,
hurt by slowing global growth and lower oil prices.
* The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite Index have closed down for
the past five sessions.
* The Nasdaq Biotechnology Index and the S&P 500 health care index
fell for the seventh straight day, closing down more than 3.4
percent.
* Investors will be closely watching data expected to be released
this week, culminating in nonfarm payrolls numbers on Friday, for
clues on the health of the U.S. economy.
* A number of Federal Reserve officials are scheduled to speak at
events this week, but mixed opinions on the timing of a rate hike is
likely to add to investor jitters.
* Fed Chair Janet Yellen has said the central bank is on track to
raise rates for the first time since 2006, with New York Fed
President William Dudley saying the hike could come as soon as next
month.
* But Charles Evans, head of the Chicago Fed, took a far more dovish
view, calling for rates to stay near zero until mid-2016.
* Billionaire investor activist Carl Icahn was the latest to
criticize the U.S. Federal Reserve's inaction on interest rates,
warning about the unintended consequences of ultra-low interest
rates on the economy and financial markets.
* Data being released on Tuesday includes consumer confidence for
September, which is expected to have fallen to 96.1 from 101.5 last
month. The data is expected at 10:00 a.m. ET (1400 GMT).
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* U.S. companies reporting quarterly earnings on Tuesday include
Costco and Diamond Foods.
* Yahoo shares rose 3.4 percent to $27.60 premarket on Tuesday, a
day after the Internet company's board decided to proceed with
spinning off Alibaba stake.
* Republic Airways was up 6 percent at $5.29 premarket after
Deutsche Bank raised the stock to "buy" and the airline reached
agreement on new contract with its pilots.
Futures snapshot at 7:15 a.m. ET (11:15 GMT):
* S&P 500 e-minis were up 9.25 points, or 0.49 percent, with 283,004
contracts traded.
* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 20.75 points, or 0.51 percent, on
volume of 53,852 contracts.
* Dow e-minis were up 56 points, or 0.35 percent, with 48,919
contracts changing hands.
(Reporting by Abhiram Nandakumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb
Chakrabarty)
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