US Stock Futures Point To Higher Open Ahead Of Existing Home Sales, Corporate Earnings

U.S. stock futures suggest a higher open for markets on Monday, ahead of the publication of existing home sales data and corporate earnings statements from companies such as McDonald's Corp. (NYSE:MCD), Texas Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:TXN) and Netflix Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX).

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.1 percent, while futures on the Standard & Poor's 500 Index were up 0.15 percent, and those on the Nasdaq 100 Index were up 0.25 percent.

Investors will be turning their attention to the publication of the National Association of Realtors' existing home sales report at 10 a.m. EDT. The survey measures the change in the annualized number of existing homes sold during the previous month. Analysts estimate sales of previously-owned U.S. homes will rise to 5.27 million in June, up from May’s 5.18 million.

In addition, a number of major companies, including Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI), Halliburton Co. (NYSE:HAL), Kimberly Clark Corp. (NYSE:KMB) and McDonald's Corp. will announce quarterly earnings before market hours, while Texas Instruments and Netflix will announce their earnings after markets close.

In Europe, stock markets, which were trading down early on Monday, regained some ground later in the day and were trading higher in mid-morning trade. The Stoxx Europe 600 index was trading up 0.21 percent, London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.13 percent and Germany's DAX-30 was up 0.34 percent, while France's CAC-40 was trading up 0.36 percent.

In Asia, markets traded higher on Monday, but stocks in China and Japan witnessed some choppy trade. Japan’s Nikkei was volatile in intraday trade, after the ruling coalition won a controlling majority in the Diet’s upper house elections held on Sunday, before closing up 0.47 percent.

In another development, Takehiro Sato, a member of the central bank's board, said, on Monday, that the Bank of Japan, or BoJ, could provide additional stimulus if global economic conditions threaten Japan's recovery.

In China, the government scrapped the floor limit on Chinese banks’ lending rates, easing liquidity conditions and leading to volatility in the markets.

“We believe this is the easy part of interest-rate deregulation, but nevertheless is an important first step in the right direction for structural reforms,” Credit Suisse economist Dong Tao wrote in a report, according to MarketWatch. “Removing the deposit-rate ceiling would be more significant to the economy and banking sector than removing the floor to the lending rate.”

China’s Shanghai Composite index closed up 0.61 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index ended up 0.25 percent, while South Korea’s KOSPI Composite index ended the day up 0.48 percent.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 ended up 0.60 percent and India’s BSE Sensex was trading flat in late-afternoon trade on Monday.