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 Retail sales on Friday and Saturday combined rose 7.2 percent to $16.4 billion from the same two-day period a year ago, according to ShopperTrak, which tracks total sales at more than 50,000 U.S. retail outlets.
With energy prices at the highest in decades, and economic uncertainty looming over the market, investors have been nervous that consumers would cut back during the holidays. Consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of all economic activity.
Dow Jones industrials futures advanced 44, or 0.30 percent, to 13,030, while Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 4.80, or 0.33 percent, to 1,446.70, and Nasdaq 100 index futures added 8.00 points, or 0.39 percent, to 2,040.50.
Last week, the Dow lost 1.49 percent, the S&P slid 1.24 percent and the Nasdaq gave up 1.54 percent.
Bond prices dipped, most likely because money was flowing back into stocks after last week's declines. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 4.03 percent from 4.00 percent late Friday.
Energy prices edged higher Monday. A barrel of light, sweet crude rose 21 cents to $98.39 in premarket trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after briefly crossing $99 overnight. Heating oil and gasoline futures also climbed.
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 Gold prices rose, while the dollar traded mixed.
Economic news was expected to be light Monday, with traders looking ahead to the readings on consumer confidence, existing home sales and orders for big-ticket goods due later in the week.
In Europe, embattled mortgage lender Northern Rock PLC said Monday it will hold accelerated takeover negotiations with a consortium led by Virgin Group. Northern Rock ran into problems in September when the short-term credit on which it relied dried up as banks became more wary of lending, and the Bank of England stepped in as a lender of last resort.
Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.09 percent; Germany's DAX index rose 0.13 percent and France's CAC-40 added 0.20 percent. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei stock average closed up 1.66 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 4.09 percent.
[Associated Press; By LAUREN VILLAGRAN]
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