Wall Street looking buoyant, new home sales eyed

U.S. stock futures signaled a positive kick-off to the week early Monday, with European and Asian markets pushing higher.

-Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.324% to 17048

-Futures on the S&P 500 Index gained 0.372% to 1995.20

-Futures on the NASDAQ 100 gained 0.450% to 4073.00 . As of 07:39 a.m. ET

New-home sales data is among indicators to watch, while shares of Burger King Worldwide Inc. and InterMune Inc. could gain on deal news.

With no major data to be released, data on new home sales, to be released at 10 a.m. ET could be a point of interest on Monday.

Analysts forecast that new home sales rose 5.5 percent month-on-month in July to 426,000, reversing about half of June`s decline. In June, purchases of new homes plunged 8.1 percent to an annual rate of 406,000.

The average rate for a 30-year mortgage fell to 4.1 percent this week, the lowest level this year, according to Freddie Mac. At the beginning of the year, the average rate was 4.53 percent. Price gains have started to slow and mortgage rates have dropped since the start of 2014. That could help boost sales.

Market reaction is eagerly watched at the opening after Burger King announced it`s in talks to buy the Canadian coffee chain Tim Hortons in a deal that could see the burger chain move its headquarters to Canada and lower its tax bill.

Shares in Roche were up by about 0.5% after the Swiss pharmaceutical giant announced it`s paying $8.3 billion to buy Nasdaq-traded InterMune. The offer represents a 38% premium compared to where InterMune shares closed on Friday.

Inspiration for Monday’s gains came from stronger European markets, with the Stoxx Europe 600 index up 0.6%. Dovish comments Friday evening from Draghi increased speculation that another easing move from the central bank is coming.

Data on business sentiment in Germany shows confidence continues to deteriorate as the economy loses steam. Many German firms have suffered as tensions escalate with Russia, a major trading partner.

Elsewhere, shares in the benchmark CAC 40 in Paris edged higher by more than 1% in early trading after reports that French Prime Minister Manuel Valls has presented President Francois Hollande with his government’s resignation. A new government will be announced on Tuesday.