Stock futures supported by Italy, economic data hopes

By Angela Moon

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock futures rose on Monday, buoyed by the formation of a broad coalition government in Italy which ended two months of political uncertainty and boosted an appetite for risky assets, as investors braced for major economic news this week.

Wall Street was boosted by European shares, which edged up on Monday after Italy finally formed a government, although analysts saw the gains petering out in the near term. <.eu/>

Feeding risk into markets, the U.S. dollar fell against a major basket of currencies, while commodities like spot gold <.xau> rose.

"The market is moving up as the Italian political situation is finally unlocked and that's offering some hope. You can see that boosting risk trade here," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York.

In macroeconomic news, personal income and outlays, due at 8:30 a.m. EDT will be in focus after last week's disappointing first quarter gross domestic product numbers. Economists polled by Reuters forecast personal spending growth was flat last month, after rising 0.7 percent in February.

Pending home sales data is due at 10:00 a.m. EDT and Dallas Federal Manufacturing Survey index is scheduled at 10:30 a.m. EDT.

The all-important nonfarm payrolls report is due on Friday.

"We have key economic data, especially the employment report later in the week, and we are also going to hear from the ECB and the Fed later, so earnings takes a back seat this week," Cardillo said.

S&P 500 futures rose 5.4 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration of the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 50 points and Nasdaq 100 futures added 11.5 points.

Wall Street was poised to start the last week of April higher. So far, the S&P 500 is up 0.8 percent this month.

Weak U.S. growth data has raised expectations the Federal Reserve will keep its pace of bond buying at $85 billion a month during the FOMC meeting announcement on Wednesday, while the European Central Bank (ECB) is widely expected to announce an interest rate cut when it meets on Thursday.

On Monday, hotel, energy and financial services conglomerate Loews Corp reported a 34 percent drop in first-quarter profit due to higher impairment charges and a sharp fall in investment income. The stock was unchanged in premarket trade.

Shares of online retailer Amazon.com Inc posted the largest daily drop in 15 months after the company reported results Thursday and was Friday's biggest drag on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq indexes. The stock was off 0.2 percent in premarket trading Monday.

U.S. stocks dipped in thin volume on Friday, though the market had a strong week overall.

(Reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stock-futures-higher-ahead-data-corporate-results-115148731.html

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