Investing.com - U.S. futures pointed to a positive opening bell on Monday, despite political turmoil in Spain.
The S&P 500 futures was up one point or 0.04% as of 6:15 AM ET (11:15GMT) while Dow futures rose 9 points or 0.15%. Tech heavy Nasdaq 100 futures increased 21 points or 0.09%.
Among the biggest winners before the morning bell was financial institution HSBC Holdings (LON:HSBA) PLC ADR (NYSE:HSBC), which increased 0.14% and mining firm AngloGold Ashanti Ltd ADR (NYSE:AU), which jumped 4.23%. Meanwhile, Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) ticked up 0.14% after it announced it would open seven research and development centers in China, Russia, the U.S., Singapore and Israel.
The U.S. arm of Spanish bank Santander (MC:SAN) was among the top losers in pre-market trades, falling 1.82% amid political uncertainty. Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) PLC ADR (NYSE:LYG) was down 0.56% as a case over the firm’s HBOS takeover during the financial crisis is due in court this week.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) slide 0.41% amid reports that the luxury car company had fired hundreds of employees for failing to meet targets.
In economic news, the New York Empire State Manufacturing index comes out at 8:30 AM ET (1:30 PM GMT).
Before the morning bell, investing firm Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) and news group McClatchy Co (NYSE:MNI) are expected to release their earnings. Video streaming site Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) is expected to release its earnings after the markets close. Its shares increased 1.12% in pre-market trading.
Meanwhile in Europe the IBEX 35 fell 0.70% after Catalan President Carles Puigdemontcalled for talks with Spain. The central government has given the region until Thursday to decide whether or not to declare independence, which it says would be illegal.
In France, the CAC 40 rose 0.15% while Germany’s DAX increased 0.17% and London’s FTSE 100 moved up 0.11%. The pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 was down 0.03%.
In commodities, gold futures rose to $1,306.94 an ounce, while crude oil jumped to $52.16 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, increased to 93.09.