Stocks Seen Flat to Higher at Opening By Anupama Chandrasekaran NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock futures pointed to a flat to slightly higher market open on Tuesday as M&A activity forged ahead, with Circuit City Stores Inc. (CC.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) surging nearly 20 percent before the opening bell after the electronics retailer received an unsolicited buyout offer. Circuit City shares jumped $2.83 to $17.06 in pre-market trading on the Inet electronic brokerage system after it said it received an unsolicited offer to buy the No. 2 U.S. electronics chain for $17 a share from Highfields Capital Management LP. The retailer said it would carefully evaluate the proposal. But another retail deal hit a rough patch. Merger talks between Federated Department Stores Inc. (FD.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) and May Department Stores Co. (MAY.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) broke down after the two companies could not agree on the price Federated would pay for May, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. "When you see a crack in a major deal like the one between Federated and May, it implies that the price was not correct and that may hurt the retail sector a bit. But this is a year of M&A and there will be many deals to trump this one," said Barry Hyman, equity market strategist, Ehrenkrantz, King, Nussbaum. S&P 500 futures (SPH5: Quote , Profile , Research ) climbed 1.60 points, above fair value accounting for interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial index futures (DJH5: Quote , Profile , Research ) were up 13 points, while Nasdaq 100 (NDH5: Quote , Profile , Research ) futures rose 4.5 points. Meanwhile, Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL.O: Quote , Profile , Research ) shares climbed 1.8 percent to $86.18 on Inet after brokerage Merrill Lynch raised its 12-month price target on the company. But traders said there will be some caution ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's comments later this week on the economy and the pace of interest-rate increases going forward. Greenspan will testify on the economy on Wednesday and Thursday to committees of the Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, respectively. On the economic front, January retail sales data will be announced at 8:30 a.m. (1330 GMT). Analysts polled by Reuters on average are looking for a 0.3 percent decline in overall retail sales from a 1.2 percent increase in the prior month. Excluding autos, core retail sales in January are expected to have expanded 0.4 percent, just above the increase of 0.3 percent in December.     Continued ... Quelle "Stocks Seen Flat to Higher at Opening" : reuters.com Main page for "Stocks Seen Flat to Higher at Opening"