U.S stocks were poised to open little changed on Tuesday as investors digested the final figures for the third-quarter gross domestic product for November and await data on the health of the housing industry. Surprises in the figures for November existing and new home sales could have a stronger-than-usual impact because of the holiday-thinned trading volumes. The GDP figure confirmed that the economy contracted at an annual rate of 0.5 percent as economists had expected. Focus has shifted to the current quarter which is expected to be much weaker. "In the first read, it doesn't look like any major change." said Jim Awad, Managing Director at Zephyr Management in New York. "Investors are really focused on the fourth-quarter." S&P 500 futures SPc1 rose 1.8 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures DJc1 gained 10 points, and Nasdaq 100 NDc1 shed 3 points. Commercial finance company CIT Group (CIT.N) jumped nearly 10 percent to $9.81 in premarket trade after it won preliminary approval to receive $2.33 billion under the government's $700 billion bailout program. [ID:nN23436252] European shares were up by midday on Tuesday, with utilities and food companies the best performing stocks in thin trade ahead of Christmas. Asian stocks fell for a third straight session on Tuesday as a continued retreat in oil prices below $40 a barrel hit resource-related shares, while auto makers slumped after Toyota's bleak outlook. Retailers remain in focus in the waning days before the Christmas holiday, as a survey released on Tuesday showed just 38.7 percent of Americans went shopping during the final weekend before Christmas, the lowest turnout in at least six years. The percentage of Americans shopping this past weekend is down from 41.6 in 2007, according to the survey by America's Research Group and UBS.

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