NEW YORK (Reuters) Wall Street futures pointed to a firmer start for equities, after gains in Europe. The Dow closed lower in the previous session on weak durable goods data and a downbeat assessment of the economy from the Feds Beige Book.

Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the S#39;s Corp (MCO.N), Colgate-Palmolive (CL.N), Kellogg Co., McAfee (MFE.N), MetLife (MET.N), Eastman Chemical Co. (EMN.N), Motorola (MOT.N), Franklin Resources (BEN.N) and Automatic Data Processing (ADP.O).

BP Plc (BP.L) (BP.N) may permanently shut the well that caused the worst off-shore oil spill in U.S. history as early as Monday, the company said as speculation grew over assets it might sell to cover mounting costs.

Frances Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA) plans to make a formal offer of up to 18.7 billion for Genzyme (GENZ.O) after its informal overture failed to strike interest, sources familiar with the situation said on Wednesday.

VistaPrint N.V. (VPRT.O) shares tumbled 29.6 percent to 35.40 in extended trade on Wednesday after the company posted quarterly earnings and gave its full-year outlook. Symantec (SYMC.O) also fell about 6 percent as it reported results.

European shares rose on Thursday, boosted by strong company earnings as results from AstraZeneca (AZN.L) and Capgemini (CAPP.PA) pleased investors. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 (.FTEU3) index of top shares was up 0.5 percent.

Japans Nikkei fell 0.6 percent on Thursday after hitting a two-week closing high the previous day.

U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday after weak durable goods figures and a downbeat assessment of the economy from the Feds Beige Book kept the benchmark S Poors 500 Index (.SPX) dropped 7.72 points, or 0.69 percent, to 1,106.12. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) dropped 23.69 points, or 1.04 percent, to 2,264.56.

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