U.S. Stock Index Futures Signal Higher Open

Stock futures pointed to a higher open for equities on Wall Street Monday after strong gains in the previous session, with futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq 100 up 0.7 to 0.9 percent.

New York Federal Reserve releases its Empire State Manufacturing Survey for October at 1230 GMT. Economists expect a reading of -4.00 compared with -8.82 in September.

The Federal Reserve releases industrial production and capacity utilization data for September at 1315 GMT. Economists expect a 0.2 percent increase in production and a reading of 77.5 percent for capacity utilization. In August, production rose 0.2 percent and capacity utilization was 77.4 percent.

Major U.S. companies announcing results include Citigroup, IBM, Halliburton, Wells Fargo and First Horizon National Corp .

Kinder Morgan Inc struck a $21 billion deal to buy rival El Paso Corp, combining the two largest natural gas pipeline operators in North America in a huge bet on the fast-growing market for that fuel.

U.S. broker-dealer MF Global Holdings Ltd was told by the industry regulator to boost its net capital in August following concerns about its exposure to European debt, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the situation.

Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc halted copper and gold production on Monday at its giant Grasberg mine in Indonesia because of security fears and worker blockades, in the worst supply disruption since a strike began a month ago.

The head of Wal-Mart Stores Inc's China business has resigned citing personal reasons, after the world's largest retailer ran into trouble with Chinese authorities leading to store closures and employee detentions.

Roche, the world's biggest maker of cancer drugs, plans to buy Anadys Pharmaceuticals Inc for $230 million to add to its portfolio of hepatitis drugs.

The United Auto Workers' tentative contract with Ford Motor Co looked assured of ratification on Sunday night after receiving overwhelming support at two major union branches, UAW officials said.

European stocks <.FTEU3> rose 1.2 percent early on Monday, extending their brisk recovery rally into a third week, as investors rushed back into equities on mounting expectation of a bold plan to fight the euro zone debt crisis at next weekend's European Union summit.

The world's leading economies pressed Europe on Saturday to act decisively within eight days to resolve the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis, which is endangering the world economy.

Greece's debt crisis cannot be solved without larger writedowns on Greek debt, and governments are trying to persuade banks to accept this, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Sunday.

U.S. stocks scored their first back-to-back weekly gains since early July on Friday, on strong Google earnings and as investors kept riding the optimism for a solution to the euro zone's debt crisis.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average <.DJI> closed up 166.36 points, or 1.45 percent, at 11,644.49 on Friday. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> ended up 20.92 points, or 1.74 percent, at 1,224.58. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> rose 47.61 points, or 1.82 percent, to 2,667.85.

Japan's Nikkei average <.N225> gained 1.5 percent on Monday.

(Reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Will Waterman)