IBT Staff Reporter

Stock index futures rose on Monday, building on last week's gains and tracking higher global equities, after strong euro zone industrial data and as oil prices advanced.

The mainstream media is saturated with wayward predictions and bullish views on gold amidst in the back drop of the ongoing gold rally. Will gold really spurt as they predict in a particular time frame? Some extremely bullish forecasters foresee the possibility of $1400 to $5000 and above per ounce within a particular time frame.

Stock index futures rose on Monday, building on last week's gains and tracking higher global equities, after strong euro zone industrial data and as oil prices advanced.

Gold firmed in Europe on Monday as expectations that government measures to address elevated sovereign debt levels may ultimately prove inflationary, and as investors bet interest rates will stay low.

UBS AG's prospects hang in the balance this week as Swiss politicians vote on a tax deal that would draw a line under a legal dispute with the United States.

Canadian energy companies operating offshore could face new regulations in the aftermath of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the more aggressive oversight may put their shares at risk.

Oil prices rallied by 2 percent to $75 a barrel on Monday as renewed optimism about the global recovery boosted the outlook for fuel demand and sent Asian and European stock markets to their highest level in four weeks.

Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Monday, adding to last week's gains and tracking gains in global equities, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.6 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.4 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.6 percent at 0821 GMT.

World stocks headed for a fourth straight day of gains on Monday as investors banked on global economic recovery to trump concerns such as euro zone sovereign debt in providing a positive backdrop for corporate earnings.

Good morning dear traders, welcome in a new trading week. There was not much action last Friday in EURUSD. In comparison to EURUSD the Cable had a real moving down after bad news of UK.

Microsoft Corp christening its new motion-sensing game system Kinect, on Sunday offered a sneak peek of upcoming titles it hopes will help draw a new generation of casual players into the 40 million-strong Xbox game console fold.

Europe's sovereign debt crisis has not pushed back the timing of a hike in the Federal Reserve's benchmark interest rate, St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said on Monday. Bullard, a voting member of the Fed's rate-setting panel, also said that U.S. inflation is contained now but could become a risk in the midterm due to the large U.S. budget deficit and the Fed's ultra-easy monetary policy.

Workers at a factory making locks for Honda Motors cars in China remained on strike on Sunday, two workers said, although Honda said the dispute had been resolved and production had resumed.

The Agricultural Bank of China is seeking to raise more than $23 billion through a dual Hong Kong and Shanghai listing, according to documents on Monday, putting it on course for the world's biggest IPO.

World oil prices advanced above $74 a barrel in Asian trade Monday mainly after equity markets surged in the region. Light sweet crude for July delivery was seen trading at $ 74.71 a barrel at 12.noon Singapore time while Brent crude was at $ 75.00 a barrel on the ICE futures exchange. Equity markets across Asia gained momentum with Japan's Nikkei rose 1.7 percent as traders bet the region's strong economic growth will boost company profits.

Gold prices continued its northern journey in Asian trade Monday as the dollar weakened against a basket of currencies. Gold for immediate delivery was seen trading at $1229.18 an ounce at 12 noon Singapore time while US gold futures for August delivery was at $1230.57 an ounce.

A strike at a Honda Motor parts supplier in southern China could augur broader demands across China's vast manufacturing belt as workers seek a bigger piece of the nation's growing economic wealth.

The euro rose on Monday after a burst of short-covering lifted the single currency above $1.22 and further away from a four-year low, but traders were wary about chasing gains and expected its downtrend to continue. The Australian dollar climbed to its highest in a month above $0.8560, extending a rally from late last week on improved risk tolerance and tackling the first layer in a band of resistance at $0.8550-80 which is blocking its path to higher ground.

Some production had resumed on Monday at a strike-hit factory making locks for Honda Motor Co in China, a spokesman said, amid reports the plant was looking to replace striking holdouts.

AT&T Inc said on Sunday it would cooperate with law enforcement in any investigation of a security breach of Apple Inc's iPad that exposed personal information of the telephone company's customers.

Kermit who? Miss Piggy what? Muppets creator Jim Henson might be shocked if he looked as his company 20 years after his death. Then again, it might be exactly what he expected and wanted with his children in control.

The euro's short-covering rally took it briefly above $1.22 to its strongest in a week on Monday, although traders were wary about driving it too far, while the Australian dollar climbed to its highest point in four weeks.

United Auto Workers delegates will gather in Detroit this week to elect new leaders as the union emerges from the U.S. auto industry's near-death experience with fewer workers, lower wages and an uncertain set of bargaining chips.

Privately held Spirit Airlines said on Sunday it has canceled flights for the next few days as a pilots' strike continued.

The strength of the euro masked underlying fiscal problems within the euro zone, the President of the European Union, Herman Van Rompuy said in an interview published on Monday.

When South Korea is faced with a severe dollar shortage in the local swap market, currency swap deals with other central banks have a far stronger effect than using its own foreign reserves, a BIS report found on Monday.

European Central Bank board member Christian Noyer on Sunday said France's aim to bring its budget deficit down to 3 percent from 8 percent of GDP by 2013 was realistic.

Inflation in the euro zone is not a worry despite the slightly higher forecasts in the recent European Central Bank staff projections, Governing Council member Athanasios Orphanides was quoted as saying on Sunday.

Qatar is expected to be the largest source of global real estate capital during 2010, real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle said in a report published on Sunday.