US STOCKS-Futures advance ahead of earnings after two-week drop

* Earnings season begins this week

* NPS Pharma climbs in premarket; to be acquired by Shire (Xetra: S7E.DE - news)

* Foundation Medicine (NasdaqGS: FMI - news) jumps; Roche to take majority stake

* Futures up: Dow 56 pts, S&P 14.25 pts, Nasdaq 7.25 pts (Adds premarket actives)

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK, Jan 12 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures rose on Monday, after a two-week decline pushed the S&P 500 back into negative territory for the year, as investors anticipated the start of the corporate earnings season.

* U.S. stocks fell on Friday after the December jobs report painted a mixed picture of the economy and led the benchmark S&P index to its second straight weekly decline. Since hitting a record high on Dec (Shanghai: 600875.SS - news) . 29, the index has fallen 2.2 percent on concerns about global growth, the potential for an exit by Greece from the euro zone and falling oil prices.

* Fourth-quarter earnings are expected to grow by 4 percent over the year-ago period, according to Thomson Reuters data.

* Alcoa (NYSE: AA - news) is scheduled to post quarterly earnings after the closing bell, with financials JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) and Citigroup (NYSE: C - news) due to report later in the week. Dow component Intel Corp is expected to post earnings on Thursday.

* NPS Pharmaceuticals (NasdaqGS: NPSP - news) jumped 8.5 percent to $45.48 in premarket trading after Shire Plc agreed to acquire the company for $5.2 billion. U.S.-listed shares of Shire slipped 0.6 percent to $216.22. The stock was the most actively traded on the Nasdaq in premarket, with over 5.4 million shares traded, more than triple its 10-day average of 1.57 million.

* Foundation Medicine surged 118.4 percent to $52.25 after Roche Holding (LSE: 0QOK.L - news) agreed to take a majority stake in the company for up to $1.18 billion.

* Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ - news) boosted its research efforts in Alzheimer's by striking a deal potentially worth up to $509 million with unlisted Swiss biotech firm AC Immune to develop so-called anti-tau vaccines.

* Bristol-Myers Squibb climbed 6.4 percent to $64.20 in premarket trade after the company said the independent data monitoring committee concluded that a late stage study evaluating its Opdivo lung cancer drug met its endpoint.

* Lululemon Athletica (NasdaqGS: LULU - news) climbed 7.5 percent to $63 before the opening bell after the yogawear chain raised its revenue and profit forecasts for the fourth quarter.

* Express Inc (NYSE: EXPR - news) gained 6.1 percent to $14.98 in premarket after the apparel retailer boosted its fourth-quarter and full-year profit outlook, citing strong holiday sales.

Futures snapshot at 8:22 a.m. EST (1322 GMT):

* S&P 500 e-minis were up 7.25 points, or 0.36 percent, with 131,183 contracts changing hands.

* Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 14.25 points, or 0.34 percent, in volume of 23,994 contracts.

* Dow e-minis were up 56 points, or 0.32 percent, with 23,634 contracts changing hands. (Editing by Bernadette Baum)