New York: US stock index futures pointed to a 1 per cent gain at the open on Monday as investors took comfort from a pledge by the Group of 20 to keep economic stimulus in place until a recovery was reassured.
Finance ministers and central bankers of the G20 agreed on Saturday to keep the aid flowing until a economic recovery was sustainable.
Global stocks rose on the news, while the dollar fell broadly as high-yielding and commodity-linked currencies benefited from the renewed risk-taking sentiment.
"Cheap money continues to fuel the rush into stocks, not just in the US, but on a global scale (after G20)," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners in New York.
Kraft Foods Inc is expected to formalize a hostile takeover bid for Britain's Cadbury Plc valued at roughly $16.7 billion, with a noon EST (1700 GMT) deadline ticking closer.
General Electric Co and Comcast Corp agreed on a valuation of around $30 billion for a joint venture between NBC Universal and Comcast, ironing out what was a key obstacle in talks, a source familiar with the matter said. GE was up 2.1 per cent at $15.65 in premarket trading.
S&P 500 futures were up 11 points and 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 gained 85 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 17 points.
Sprint Nextel Corp is preparing to pump at least $1 billion more into Clearwire Corp, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing two sources. Sprint Nextel rose 3.9 per cent to $2.96 before the bell.
Data showed China's passenger cars sales surged 75.8 per cent in October from a year earlier, extending the explosive growth in recent months as government incentives continued to lure customers.
On the earnings front, Electronic Arts Inc, Tesoro Corp and Rockwell Automation Inc are due to report results on Monday.
Oil jumped more than $1 to $79 a barrel and gold hit a record high above $1,100 an ounce as the dollar index slid 1 per cent on the outcome of the G20 meeting.
US stocks ended the week 3 per cent higher, shrugging off the news of the unemployment rate hit 10.2 per cent, the highest in 26-1/2 years.
