U.S. stock futures rallied on Monday ahead of the formal unveiling of a plan designed to get private investors to take some of the toxic debt off bank balance sheets. S&P 500 futures rose 20.6 points to 784.70 and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 29.75 points to 1,217.70. Dow industrial futures jumped 189 points. Stocks across the globe have rallied over the last two weeks -- with the S&P 500 up over 12% -- helped in part by the Federal Reserve's move to buy $300 billion of longer-dated Treasurys as well as a belief by some investors that stocks are undervalued. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will on Monday provide details about the government's latest plan to help rid banks of toxic assets clogging the financial system, with a briefing due for 8:45 a.m. Eastern. The Treasury Department's program involves setting up a new investment fund to buy mortgage-related securities and other assets weighing down bank balance sheets. The new Public Private Investment Program would combine taxpayer money with private funds, aiming to buy loans and free up banks to renew lending. Geithner told The Wall Street Journal that the plan will involve buying up $500 billion of worth of assets, and the program could be expanded to $1 trillion. Private investors will be able to get cheap funding from the government under the program. Analysts still were skeptical about the program as described, with the familiar worries about prices: if too high, private money won't come in, and if too lows, banks won't want to sell the troubled assets stuck on their balance sheet. "The U.S. authorities claim that if banks are able to unload the troubled assets it will be easier for them again to raise private capital," said credit strategists at UniCredit. "This is true, but this still doesn't mean that most of the banks are already safe. If the size of the problem for a specific bank is too high, selling the assets to the market will mean that the bank will be practically insolvent." Nonetheless, banks rallied. Citigroup rose 19% and Bank of America rallied 17% in Frankfurt. Financials also advanced in overseas trade. Mizuho Financial rose 5.3% in Tokyo, helping the Nikkei 225 climb 3.4%, and Deutsche Bank rose 6% in Frankfurt, helping the DAX 30 rise 1.4%. The dollar fell vs. the euro and the British pound, and the safe haven of gold also dropped, losing about $2 an ounce. Oil futures edged higher, up 62 cents a barrel. Beyond the bank rescue plan, Monday's calendar also includes existing home sales for February. Suncor Energy said it will buy Petro-Canada for about $15 billion of stock, in a deal combining two major Canadian energy providers with particular strength in oil sands. Daimler rose 3% in Frankfurt after an Abu Dhabi investor said it would buy 1.95 billion euros worth of the automaker's stock at a 4% discount to Friday's close. Results are due from luxury retailer Tiffany and drug store chain Walgreen.

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