Wall Street Heads Towards Higher Open

(RTTNews) - Trading in the U.S. index futures suggests that Wall Street stocks may open Monday's session higher even as the markets in Europe and a few Asian markets remained closed for 'Easter Monday' holiday. The markets that were open for trading in Asia closed mostly lower, although the yen's weakness lifted Japanese stocks to an over 3-week high. The dollar strength is seeing a let up as commodities claw back their Asian session losses. The data-heavy may render the mood cautious, even as M&A announcements, if any, and economic data on pending home sales and personal income & spending could influence sentiment.

As of 6:15 am ET, the Dow futures are gaining 53 points, the S&P 500 futures are adding 7.25 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures are moving up 18 points.

U.S. stocks ended the abbreviated week ended March 24th on a negative, snapping five straight weeks of gains. Fears of another Fed rate hike and volatility in the prices of commodities proved to be the undoing of markets.

The unfolding week's economic calendar is heavily loaded both in terms of quantity and quality. Headlining the week's economic news flow will be two separate labor market reports, one on private payrolls due on Wednesday and another on non-farm payrolls scheduled for Friday. The weekly jobless claims data may also be scanned for giving additional insights into the labor market.

Some consumer readings such as the Commerce Department's personal income and outlays report for February and the results of two separate consumer confidence surveys by the Conference Board and the University of Michigan may also be in the spotlight.

Also on the radar would be the National Association of Realtors' pending home sales report for February, the results of the S&P/Case-Shiller house price survey for January, the results of Institute for Supply Management's national manufacturing survey and the MNI Indicators' regional Chicago business barometer survey, both for March, Markit's final U.S. manufacturing PMI for March and some Fed speeches.

Traders may also take cues from the monthly auto sales due to be released on Friday. The Commerce Department's construction spending report for February, the Dallas Federal Reserve's regional manufacturing survey for March and the results of the Treasury auctions of 2-year, 5-year and 7-year notes round up the economic events of the week.

The Commerce Department is scheduled to release its personal income and spending report for February at 8:30 am ET. Economists expect a 0.1 percent month-over-month increase each in personal income and consumer spending.

At 10 am ET, the National Association of Realtors is due to release its pending home sales index for February. The consensus estimate calls for a 1.5 percent month-over-month increase in pending home sales for the month. The Treasury is set to release the results of its auction of 2-year notes at 1 pm ET.

In major corporate news, Schlumberger (SLB) and Cameron International (CAM) announced that the Chinese Ministry of Commerce has cleared their proposal to merger without any conditions. The companies now expect the deal to close on April 1st, 2016.

UDR (UDR) announced a 6 percent increase in its annualized common stock dividend.

Gamestop (GME) reported better than expected non-GAAP earnings per share for its fourth quarter and its net sales rose 1.4 percent to $3.53 billion. For 2016, the company expects sales and earnings per share that could be qualified as lackluster.

The major Asian markets that were open for trading ended lower as commodities continued to see weakness. However, the Japanese market advanced as the yen weakened. The Australian, New Zealand and Hong Kong markets were closed for 'Easter Monday' holiday.

The Nikkei 225 average of Japan opened higher and moved sideways till late trading. After declining steeply in late trading and briefly being in the red, the index recovered and ended up 131.62 points or 0.77 percent at a 3-week high of 17,134, but off the day's high of 17,168.

A majority of stocks advanced. Utility, marine transportation, chemical, telecom, financial, retail, export, resource, pharma, food and construction stocks all gained ground.

China's Shanghai Composite Index lost 21.61 points or 0.73 percent before ending at 2,958. South Korea's Kospi and Taiwan's Weighted Average were down 0.06 percent and 0.17 percent, respectively at the close.

The major European markets remain closed for Easter Monday holiday.