LONDON (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a steady open on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the Nasdaq 100, the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones staying flat. The Commerce Department releases March personal income and consumption data at 1230 GMT. Economists expect a 0.3 percent rise in income and a 0.4 percent increase in spending. In February, income rose 0.2 percent and spending was up 0.8 percent. NYSE Euronext said its profits fell by almost a third in the first quarter due to a difficult trading environment and costs from its failed merger with Deutsche Boerse . ...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hedge fund manager Philip Falcone's LightSquared is avoiding a default for now on about $1.6 billion of debt after creditors of the upstart wireless telecom company agreed to extend negotiations for a week, source familiar with the matter said. The holders of LightSquared's debt, who include billionaire investor Carl Icahn and hedge fund manager David Tepper, had given Falcone's Harbinger Capital until 10 a.m. Monday to strike a deal for restructuring Harbinger's 96 percent equity control of LightSquared, the source said. ...

MADRID, APRIL 30 - Spain's economy slipped into recession in the first quarter as domestic demand shrank, data showed on Monday, with deep government spending cuts in an uphill battle to trim the public deficit likely to delay any return to growth. Gross domestic product shrank 0.3 percent in January-March from the previous quarter according to preliminary National Statistics Institute data, unchanged from October-December and compared to a Reuters poll expecting a 0.4 percent contraction. ...

 SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Foreign companies doing business in China must navigate a business culture in which bribery is rife, finding ways to remove obstacles to expanding in the world's second-largest economy without running afoul of local or home-country laws. Especially in areas such as dealing with local officials in charge of permits, it is still common for bribes, whether cash or illegal gifts, to be expected in return for providing the necessary approvals, industry and legal experts say. For U.S. ...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - - Inflation pressures in the euro zone eased slightly in April from March but were still above expectations, giving the European Central Bank little room to lower interest rates to help revive economic growth across the continent. Consumer price inflation in the 17 nations sharing the euro moderated to 2.6 percent year-on-year in April from 2.7 percent in March, the EU's statistics office Eurostat said on Monday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast inflation of 2.5 percent. ...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Embattled law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf said on Sunday it removed its former chairman from various leadership positions amid a probe by the Manhattan district attorney and said that talks with rival firm Greenberg Traurig about a potential transaction ended with no deal. According to an internal firm memo obtained by Reuters, Dewey's executive committee voted to oust Steven Davis from its ranks and remove him from a five-member management team put in place during a leadership shakeup last month. The firm's management also disclosed that talks with Greenberg Traurig had ended. ...

 (Reuters) - Pipeline operator Energy Transfer Partners LP said it will buy Sunoco Inc for $5.3 billion in stock and cash as part of its plan to bulk up presence in the transportation of crude oil, natural gas liquids and refined products. Sunoco shareholders will receive $50.13 per share, a 22.5 percent premium over the stock's Friday close of $40.91 on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Swetha Gopinath in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

LONDON (Reuters) - Cellphone maker Nokia is in talks to sell its UK luxury subsidiary Vertu, which hand makes some of the world's most expensive mobile phones, a source familiar with the company's strategy said on Monday. Earlier the Financial Times reported that talks with private equity group Permira were at an advanced stage on a possible sale which would raise about 200 million euros ($265 million). Vertu's cellphones can feature crystal displays and sapphire keys, costing more than 200,000 pounds ($320,000) due to the precious metal components. ...

BERLIN (Reuters) - The EU's Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier has thrown his weight behind calls for an economic growth pact to complement an austerity drive that has triggered a political and popular backlash across the euro zone. "I am advocating that we prepare a European growth initiative in addition to the agreements on budget discipline," Barnier told Germany's Die Welt newspaper in an interview published on Monday. ...