Stock index futures rose on Monday after closing their worst month in nearly a year and as investors digested President Barack Obama's budget plans and awaited earnings from Exxon Mobil Corp .

The president unveiled a budget that projected the 2010 deficit soaring to a post World War Two high of $1.56 trillion, or 10.6 percent of the economy, but falling steeply in following years to half that level by the time his term ends in 2012.

In the latest political event to worry investors China reacted angrily after the United States unveiled its first arms package for Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province, saying it would impose unspecified sanctions on the companies involved.

S&P 500 futures rose 3.9 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 gained 37 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 5.3 points.

On the macroeconomic front, investors awaited U.S. data for personal income and construction spending at 8.30 a.m. as well as the Institute for Supply Management's January manufacturing index at 10 a.m. EST.

Japan's Nikkei average finished flat on Monday as investors picked up shares of companies that reported bullish earnings, while shares of Toyota Motor Corp <7203.T>, which had fallen almost 14 percent in the past week on its recall woes, slipped 1.2 percent. <.T>

European stocks were led lower by energy shares such as Total and BP . The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was trading down 0.2 percent. <.EU>

U.S. stocks dropped on Friday, as worries about fiscal turmoil in Europe and a drop in technology stocks pushed the S&P 500 to its worst monthly decline since February 2009.

The recent sell-off has seen the S&P 500 tumble 6.7 percent in the last eight trading sessions with political risks such as bank regulation and sovereign defaults unsettling investors.

(Reporting by Edward Krudy; Editing by W Simon )

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