By Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

Durable goods data on tap before the open

U.S. stocks were set to kick off the week on a sound footing Monday, with futures rising alongside a rally in oil prices and investors looking ahead to data that should provide a health check on consumer confidence.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 62 points, or 0.3%, to 21,401, while those for the S&P 500 index added 6.10 points, or 0.2%, to 2,440.75. Futures for the Nasdaq-100 index climbed 19 points, or 0.3%, to 5,831.25.

The upbeat mood premarket comes after stocks finished mostly higher on Friday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stock-futures-hunt-for-a-catalyst-with-nasdaq-poised-for-a-weekly-win-2017-06-23). In that session, investors scooped up energy shares, battered after crude oil prices dropped to a 10-month low earlier in the week. The S&P 500 ended 0.2% higher, and the Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.5%, but the Dow average ended marginally lower.

On Monday, energy-related companies continued to perform well, tracking a more than 1% jump in oil prices (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-up-1-rising-for-third-session-in-a-row-2017-06-26). Shares of Chesapeake Energy Corp.(CHK) climbed 2.4% premarket, while ConocoPhillips(COP) added 1.7% and Exxon Mobil Corp.(XOM) put on 0.4%.

Other stock movers: Shares of Yum! Brands Inc.(YUM) advanced 1.8% before the bell after Australian company Collins Foods Ltd. (CKF.AU) said it is buying 28 KFC restaurants from the fast food chain operator.

Economic news: A report on durable goods orders for May is due at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

Economists expect a decline in orders at the same rate as last month, "which is likely to indicate that U.S. consumers are only slightly rebounding and inflation is not likely to rise further which, in turn, adds more credence to the Federal Reserve holding off on any near-term rise in U.S. interest rates," said analysts at FxPro in a note.

The Chicago Fed national activity index for May is also out at 8:30 a.m. Eastern. See MarketWatch's Economic Calendar (http://www.marketwatch.com/economy-politics/calendars/economic).

In central bank news, San Francisco Fed President John Williams said at a speech in Australia that gradual hikes in interest rates are needed to avoid overheating the U.S. economy (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/feds-williams-says-gradual-rate-hikes-are-needed-for-growth-2017-0). Fed governor Jerome Powell will give a speech at the Salzburg Global Seminar in Salzburg, Austria, at 6 a.m. Eastern.

Other markets:Asian stock markets closed higher (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/asian-markets-gain-thanks-to-tech-stocks-and-commodities-2017-06-25) across the board, helping Europe stocks open higher as well (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/european-stocks-propelled-higher-by-italian-banks-nestle-shares-2017-06-26).

The dollar traded mixed against other major currencies, while gold stumbled more than 1%.

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 26, 2017 06:01 ET (10:01 GMT)

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