U.S. index futures point to higher open, oil eyed

LONDON, May 12 (Reuters) - U.S. index futures edged up early on Monday, suggesting a Wall Street open in line with robust global equities, as a stronger dollar depressed crude prices.

At 0948 GMT, index futures for the S&P 500 .SPX, the Dow Jones industrial average DJc1 and the Nasdaq 100 NDc1 were all 0.2-0.3 percent higher. The indicative Dow Jones index .DJII was down 0.6 percent.

European shares were trading 0.8 percent higher and Asian stocks rose.

With corporate and macroeconomic diaries thin, investors were likely to take their cue from the price of crude CLc1. Oil traded down 0.6 percent at $125.14 a barrel but only around $1 short of record levels.

Weaker oil would alleviate some concern about inflationary pressures and support the broader market, although a rise in crude would lift index-heavyweight energy stocks.

"Once again it will be movements in the oil price as well as fears about the state of the U.S. economy that will be the main focus during today's session," Claire Collingwood, a dealer at CMC Markets, said in a note.

Three S&P 500 companies were due to report results: engineering and construction company Fluor Corp (FLR.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), bond insurer MBIA (MBI.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Sprint Nextel (S.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which recently unveiled a deal along with top U.S. cable companies to invest in Clearwire (CLWR.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) to introduce high-speed wireless Web services.

Investors will also watch package delivery company Fedex (FDX.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), which fell sharply in extended trade on Friday after it lowered its fourth-quarter earnings-per-share guidance. Its shares were 4.8 percent lower in Frankfurt (FDX.F: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

As earnings season tapers off, according to Thomson Reuters data, 447 of the companies on the S&P 500 had reported by last Friday. Of these, 62 percent beat analyst expectations, 10 percent were in line and 28 percent missed forecasts.