Stocks point to higher open ahead of housing data

[May 18, 2009]  NEW YORK (AP) -- U.S. stocks signaled a higher open Monday ahead of data on the housing market.

After a pullback in stocks last week, investors are looking to housing for clues about the economy. The National Association of Home Builders is set to release its index of builders' confidence for May at 1 p.m. Eastern.

Wall Street is also awaiting quarterly results from Lowe's, the nation's second largest home improvement chain.

Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 24, or 0.3 percent, to 8,291. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures rose 3.90, or 0.4 percent, to 886.90, while Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 6.25, or 0.5 percent, to 1,360.50.

Last week, the Dow industrials fell 3.6 percent, the S&P 500 index lost 5 percent and the Nasdaq fell 3.4 percent.

Bond prices mostly rose early Monday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, fell to 3.12 percent from 3.14 percent late Friday.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.

Light, sweet crude rose 78 cents to $57.12 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Stocks overseas were mixed following weak corporate earnings reports in Asia. In a bright spot, India's index surged 17 percent after investors saw election results as paving the way for economic reforms. Japan's Nikkei stock average fell 2.4 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.8 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.2 percent, and France's CAC-40 fell 0.2 percent.

[Associated Press; By TIM PARADIS]

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