European Factors-Futures point to firmer start; eyes on Lehman

(adds futures, analyst quotes, company news, updates snapshot table)

FRANKFURT, Sept 12 (Reuters) - European stock index futures pointed to a
higher opening on Friday in line with overnight gains in the United States and
Asia.

At 0630 GMT, futures for the Eurostoxx 50 STXEc1, Germany's DAX FDXc1
and the French CAC 40 FCEc1 were up between 1.2 and 1.4 percent.

U.S. stocks rose on Thursday, and stock markets in Asia followed suit on
Friday, after a report that U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers LEH.N is up
for sale.

"Much of the talk is still about Lehman Bros and the fact that the company
is now expected to announce it has found a buyer in what is turning into
something of fire sale," CMC Markets said in a note.

"As with the buy out of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, taking Lehman's out of
the equation should have the potential to give the heavyweight financial sector
some degree of support," CMC Markets said.

With no major European or U.S. companies scheduled to report earnings, the
focus of financial markets is likely to be on economic data, notably euro zone
industry output as well as U.S. retail sales, PPI and consumer sentiment.

"The retail sales numbers and University of Michigan sentiment index are
likely to be reasonably good, but the problem is that it probably won't last
with recession remaining our base case," Dutch bank ING said in a note.

"This in turn will feed through into further credit losses for the financial
sector, which suggests that a major improvement in sentiment on the U.S. banking
sector is a long way off," ING said.

----------------------Market Snapshot at 0625 GMT----------------------

LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S&P 500 .SPX 1,249.05 1.38 % 17.01
Nikkei .N225 12,214.76 0.93 % 112.26
MSCI ASIA EX-JP .MIASJ0000PUS 403.76 0.67 % 2.68
EUR/USD EUR= 1.4021 -0.03 % -0.0004
USD/JPY JPY= 107.34 0.18 % 0.1900
10-YR US Tsy yld US10YT=RR 3.643 -- -0.01
10-YR Bund yld EU10YT=RR 4.124 -- 0.05
Spot gold XAU= $752.70 0.79 % $5.90
US crude CLc1 $101.26 0.39 % 0.39

* Lehman buyout talk, oil, GM lift Wall Street [ID:nN11316018]
* GLOBAL MARKETS-Asia stocks bounce with eyes on Lehman [ID:nSP249629]
* Yen holds firm on global economy, Lehman worries [ID:nT354058]
* Nikkei ends up 0.9 pct, Lehman moves in focus [ID:nTKG003042]
* Oil bounces ro above $101, eyes on Hurricane Ike [ID:nSP89889]
* Hurricane Ike closing in on Texas coast, Houston [ID:nN12355850]
* TREASURIES-Steady in Asia, eyes on financial sector [ID:nT350391]
* Gold up 1 pct on bargain hunting, tone cautious [ID:nSP307882]

FORTIS (FOR.BR)(FOR.AS)

The Belgian-Dutch financial services group looks for buyers for real estate
as part of measures to boost its solvency, Belgian business daily De Tijd says.

Related news [FOR.BR-E]

DEUTSCHE POSTBANK (DPBGn.DE)

Deutsche Post's (DPWGn.DE) supervisory board meets; on agenda Postbank stake
sale, likely to Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE). German newspaper website Welt Online
reported that Deutsche Bank would pay a little over 55 euros per share.
[ID:nLB566003]

Related news [DPBGn.DE-E-MRG]

SACYR VALLEHERMOSO (SVO.MC), REPSOL YPF (REP.MC)

Sacyr has put its 20 percent stake in Repsol YPF up for sale, El
Confidencial website reported, citing sources close to Sacyr's board of
directors. The construction company has hired Dresdner bank to handle the sale,
the website said. No-one at Sacyr was immediately available for comment.

Related news [SVO.MC-E] [REP.MC-E]

THOMAS COOK (TCG.L), TUI TRAVEL (TT.L)

Britain's third largest package holiday operator XL Leisure said on Friday
it had gone into administration and grounded all flights. [ID:nSP258041]

Related news [TCG.L-E] [TT.L-E]

HOLCIM (HOLN.VX)

Mexico's Cemex, the world's No. 3 cement maker, cut its pretax earnings
forecast for 2008 on Thursday amid sharp housing slowdowns in its main markets
and the nationalization of its assets in Venezuela. [ID:nN11339498]

Related news [HOLN.VX-E]

RIO TINTO (RIO.L)

The miner will not agree any more traditional iron ore contracts on a
benchmark basis and plans a "significant" increase in spot market sales next
year, a senior executive told Reuters.[ID:nLB339826]

Related news [RIO.L-E]

TELEFONICA (TEF.MC)

Telefonica (TEF.MC) offered to buy all of the shares it does not own in
Telefonica Chile (CTC) CTCa.SN, a deal it said was worth around $985 million.

Related news [TEF.MC-E]

BASF (BASF.DE)

BASF expects a new phase of consolidation in the chemical industry amid
increasing costs for raw materials and slower growth rates, CEO Juergen
Hambrecht told German business daily Handelsblatt.

Related news [BASF.DE-E]

MEDIOBANCA (MDBI.MI)

The bank's chairman and managers struck a truce to return the bank to a
single board, a step which smoothes a possible move by its chairman to a plum
job at its key investment, Assicurazioni Generali (GASI.MI). [ID:nLB453211]

Related news [MDBI.MI-E]

IBERDROLA (IBE.MC)

Iberdrola expects U.S electricity company Energy East to contribute to its
results from the fourth quarter of 2008. [ID:nLB321898]

Related news [IBE.MC-E]

HUSQVARNA (HUSQb.ST)

The Swedish garden and construction tool maker's CEO said in a newspaper
interview the company planned to cut output and staff but would be raising
prices in the United States. Production volumes would be much lower this year
than last.

Related news [HUSQb.ST-E]

POWEO (ALPWO.PA)

France's largest alternative power supplier aims to almost double household
clients to 200,000 by the end of this year, its managing director said.
[ID:nLB586808]

Related news [ALPWO.PA-E]

(Reporting by Peter Starck)