Stock futures point to weaker Wall Street opening (Reuters)

(Reuters) –

Stock futures pointed to a lower Wall Street open on Tuesday, with futures for the Dow Jones industrial average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 down 1.5 to 1.8 percent at 5:54 a.m. EST.

Highlights:

* Chief executives of GM, Ford and Chrysler and the president of the United Auto Workers union are scheduled to testify on a hotly debated bailout plan. The Senate Banking Committee hearing is scheduled for 2000 GMT.

Thirty-three Chrysler dealers are also preparing to press lawmakers over the rescue plan and say that Washington fails to understand how severely an industry bankruptcy could hurt the United States. The U.S. Senate plans to take up a $25 billion bill that would bail out U.S. automakers.

* Home improvements industry leader Home Depot (HD.N) is expected to report a lower third-quarter profit, its ninth straight decline in quarterly profit. Analysts expect earnings of 39 cents a share.

* Markets await more monthly economic data to digest. Producer prices are estimated to have fallen 1.8 percent in October, according to economists polled by Reuters, while the producer price index excluding food and energy items is estimated to have crept up just 0.1 percent from September.

(Reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Greg Mahlich)

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