Stock index futures rose on Monday as investors shrugged off last week's dismal employment data and shifted focus to technology shares, including Hewlett-Packard Co after its chief executive resigned.

HP CEO Mark Hurd quit after an investigation found he had falsified expense reports to conceal a close personal relationship with a female contractor, the company said on Friday. The stock rose 2 percent at $42.69 in premarket trade on Monday.

Apple Inc will also be in view after the company said the executive in charge of engineering for its iPhone has left in the wake of complaints over poor reception on the latest version of company's smartphone. Apple shares edged 0.2 percent higher in premarket trade to $260.66.

With just the Conference Board's July job index due, investors will watch the outcome of the Federal Reserve's meeting on Tuesday. The Fed is widely expected to renew its vow to keep rates near zero for an extended period.

Markets will watch closely to see if Fed officials are growing more concerned the recovery is at risk or that there is a danger of falling into a vicious cycle of falling prices and slowing growth.

The consensus for now is that the Fed is going to once again ease their quantitative efforts which will give a boost to the otherwise quiet market, said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners in New York.

Shares of Research in Motion Ltd will also be in the spotlight after a Saudi official said the BlackBerry maker and Saudi mobile firms were testing three servers to send communications and data through Saudi Arabia before Canada to address Riyadh's concerns over security. The stock gained 1 percent to $53.95 in premarket trade.

S&P 500 futures rose 5.3 points and were above 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 gained 37 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures were up 7.25 points.

European shares rebounded from Friday's sharp losses, with commodity stocks leading gainers, supported by stronger metal and oil prices.

Oil futures were up 1 percent to $81.51 per barrel.

U.S. stocks fell on Friday after government data showed a larger-than-expected drop in July payrolls, but major indexes closed well above the day's lows.

Stocks had been rising over the past five weeks, largely on the back of solid earnings. The S&P 500 is up 9.7 percent from its closing low for the year set on July 2.

Of the 443 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings to date, 75 percent have posted earnings above expectations, with only 9 percent missing estimates, according to Thomson Reuters data.

(Editing by Padraic Cassidy)

Canada Mark Hurd Apple inc. Apple