Stock index futures were little changed on Monday ahead of data on new home sales, following the best three-week period on the S&P 500 Index in almost a year.

S&P futures hovered around 1,100, a key level broken by the benchmark on Friday for the first time in a month. Some technical measures of both the S&P 500 <.SPX> and S&P futures are sending bullish signals, but charts also show further resistance roughly 1 percent above current levels. Recent economic data has also cut into the positive sentiment.

S&P 500 futures fell 1.7 2 points and were about even with fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures lost 9 points and Nasdaq 100 futures shed 4.25 points.

BP Plc was up 2.6 percent in premarket trading as the British oil giant is expected to install an American troubleshooter as chief executive in the next 24 hours, replacing Tony Hayward, who has come under fire for his handling of the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

Pharmaceutical stocks will be in the spotlight The Wall Street Journal said Britain's GlaxoSmithKline Plc had recently made a very casual approach, to Genzyme Corp but industry insiders and analysts said Glaxo's chief executive was unlikely to pursue a deal. U.S.-traded Glaxo shares dipped 1.4 percent to $35.99 premarket.

Sources familiar with the matter said on Friday that Sanofi-Aventis was sounding out Genzyme, prompting a 15 percent jump in the U.S. biotech company's market value to $16.7 billion.

Investors will eye the U.S. Commerce Department's new home sales data for June, at 10 a.m. (1400 GMT). Economists in a Reuters survey forecast a total of 320,000 annualized units in June compared with 300,000 in May.

Legg Mason Inc , Fluor Corp. , Lorillard Inc , Masco Co , Plum Creek Timber Co Inc and Range Resources Corp are due to report results on Monday.

U.S. stocks rose on Friday as GE's dividend hike boosted investor sentiment, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 102.32 points, or 0.99 percent, to 10,424.62, and The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> added 23.58 points, or 1.05 percent, to 2,269.47.

The S&P 500 rose 8.99 points, or 0.82 percent, to 1,102.66, closing above the key 1,100 level for the first time in a month after coming close but failing four times in July.

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