U.S. stock futures were trading higher on Monday, with Wall Street headed for a positive start to 2011 amid rising optimism on the U.S. economy.
Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 76 points, or 0.7%, to 11589, while those for the S&P 500 index rose 8.2 points or 0.7%, to 1261.20. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index rose 19 points, or 0.9%, to 2235.
Jed Lyons, chief executive of Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group Inc., said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that it would temporarily halt books shipped to the chain to help protect clients.
Shares of Boeing Co. could be in focus after Barclays Capital affirmed an overweight rating on the company, but cut its 12-month price target to $80 from $87, citing such concerns as a delivery delay for the first model 787.
Shares of Google Inc. could also be in focus after a report in The Wall Street Journal said that the company is gathering publisher support for a digital newsstand to operate on devices that run its Android software. That would be a direct challenge to what Apple Inc. offers via its iTunes stores.
European markets were higher across the board, with auto and technology stocks leading gains of as much as 2% for the French CAC 40 and 1.5% for the German DAX 30 index. London markets were closed for a bank holiday.
In Asia, an upbeat outlook on global growth drove technology and auto stocks. South Korea's main index surged to an all-time high, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 1.7%.
The dollar rose 0.5% against the euro to $1.3319, while it was up 0.6% against the Japanese yen at 81.43 yen.
Crude-oil prices for February delivery rose 75 cents to $92.13, while gold futures for February fell 90 cents to $1,420.50.
