US STOCKS-Futures higher after 2-day fall, Alcoa earnings

* Alcoa up in premarket after results

* Oil falls near 6-year low

* Futures up: Dow 96 pts, S&P 10.75 pts, Nasdaq 23.5 pts

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK, Jan 13 (Reuters) – S&P Futures advanced on Tuesday after the S&P 500 fell for a second consecutive session, as earnings from Alcoa helped ease some investor skittishness about the corporate earnings season.

* Alcoa Inc gained 2.5 percent to $ 16.57 before the opening bell. The company reported a higher-than-expected quarterly profit due to a boost from automotive demand, higher aluminum prices and lower energy costs.

* Another sharp decline in energy shares as oil prices tumbled about 5 percent and growing concern over corporate profits sent equities lower for the second straight day. The benchmark S&P index has fallen in seven of the past nine sessions and is down 3 percent from its most recent record high on Dec. 29.

* Financials including JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo , Goldman Sachs and Citigroup are among companies also due to report this week, along with Dow component Intel Corp.

* Fourth-quarter earnings are expected to show growth of 3.8 percent over the year-earlier period, according to Thomson Reuters data.

* Shares of energy companies are likely to be under pressure again as oil prices continued to stumble. Brent and U.S. crude touched their lowest levels in almost six years as a big OPEC producer stood by the group’s decision not to cut output to tackle a glut in the market.

* Brent was last down 3 percent at $ 46.03, while U.S. crude was off 2.5 percent at $ 44.93. Transocean shares were down 1.7 percent to $ 15.25 in premarket trading.

* A rise in retail shares pushed up European equities, which also benefited from expectations of new economic stimulus measures from the European Central Bank.

* Asian stocks were mostly on the defensive as the continuing slide in crude oil prices turned investors cautious towards risk assets.

Futures snapshot at 7:22 a.m. EST (1222 GMT):

* S&P 500 e-minis were up 10.75 points, or 0.53 percent, with 148,953 contracts changing hands.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 23.5 points, or 0.56 percent, in volume of 24,526 contracts.

* Dow e-minis were up 96 points, or 0.55 percent, with 24,144 contracts changing hands.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)