Stock Futures Point to More Gains for Wall Street

FOX Business: Capitalism Lives Here

U.S. stock-index futures climbed on Monday after Wall Street's strongest rally in nearly two months as big gains in Asia whetted traders' buying appetite.

Today's Markets

As of 7:50 a.m. ET, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures climbed 41 points to 15248, S&P 500 futures gained 6 points to 1645 and Nasdaq 100 futures jumped 10.5 points to 2991.

Last week was a volatile one for Wall Street. The markets took a thrashing mid-week on worries about when the Federal Reserve will begin slowing down its $85 billion a month in bond purchases. However, a round of strong, but not too strong, jobs data Friday sent traders racing back into equities.

The economic calendar is bare on Monday, but picks up as the week progresses. Among the key data on tap are a report on retail sales, two reports on inflation, and a key gauge of consumer sentiment.

St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard -- a voting member on the Fed's policy-setting board -- is set to speak on the global economy from Montreal at 9:50 a.m. ET. Recently, Fed watchers have been obsessed with commentary from central bank decision makers as they try to determine when the central bank will begin the process of tapering its asset purchases.

In corporate news, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) kicks off its Worldwide Developers Conference on the day. The tech giant is expected to roll out the next version of iOS, the software that powers its mobile devices. On top of that, the Cupertino, Calif.-based company may also announce a music streaming service that could compete with Pandora (NASDAQ:P) and a new Apple TV.

IHS said it will buy R.L. Polk & Co. as it looks to expand its reach into the automotive-data sector. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) was near a deal to buy Waze, a traffic and navigation app, for roughly $1 billion, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. The search behemoth reportedly edged out Apple and Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), who were both said to be eyeing the firm.

Commodities were mildly lower. The benchmark U.S. crude oil contract dipped 59 cents, or 0.61%, to $95.44 a barrel. Wholesale New York Harbor gasoline fell 0.49% to $2.857 a gallon. In metals, gold dropped $1.70, or 0.12%, to $1,381 a troy ounce.

Foreign Markets

The Euro Stoxx 50 rose 0.06% to 2726, the English FTSE 100 edged lower by 0.13% to 6404 and the German DAX jumped 1% to 8337.

In Asia, the Japanese Nikkei 225 rallied 4.9% to 13514 and the Chinese Hang Seng ticked higher by 0.18% to 21615.