By Steve Goldstein, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures rose Monday as confidence returned that global growth won't be curtailed by the European debt crisis.
S&P 500 futures rose 9.5 points to 1,094.50 and Nasdaq 100 futures added 14 points to 1,856.70. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 78 points.
The blue chip Dow industrials closed 2.8% higher last week, to snap a three-period losing run. Despite disappointing U.S. retail sales, a lack of bad news from Europe helped contribute to the advance in equities.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, speaking in Tokyo, said Monday that he expects an Asian-led world economic recovery to continue, and also said he didn't see evidence of a Chinese bubble.
"The big picture is that rapid Chinese growth can easily be reconciled with the fundamentals, and so the risk of a sudden slowdown in China derailing the global recovery, while certainly not zero, seems limited," he said, adding he doesn't think the European debt crisis will derail the economic recovery.
Data from the euro zone released Monday was positive, with industrial production up 0.8% in April.
Global strategists at Nomura said stock markets have overreacted to negative news, noting the credit markets haven't been as volatile.
"The coming earnings announcement season should provide the catalyst for equity investors to focus on the value on offer and for equities to recover."
There was some activity on the merger front.
France's AXA is in talks to sell its U.K. life insurance arm for $4 billion to Resolution, the companies said.
Cablevision Systems (CVC 23.40, +0.03, +0.13%) is close to buying Bresnan Communications, a broadband provider, for $1.3 billion, according to a Bloomberg News report.
Onyx Pharmaceuticals (ONXX 22.83, +0.26, +1.15%) may be active after it and partner Bayer said a late-stage trial of Nexavar showed the drug wasn't successful in prolonging survival in lung cancer patients.
BP (BP 32.72, -1.25, -3.68%) dropped in London trade as the oil giant's board members were due to meet to discuss their dividend payment plans, and as the Obama administration over the weekend called for the firm to set up an independent escrow account to pay claims to those affected by the oil spill.
With markets in Australia, China and the Philippines closed, stocks in Asia were generally stronger, with the Nikkei 225 up 1.8% and the Hang Seng up 0.9% in Hong Kong.
In late morning trade, the Stoxx Europe 600 climbed 1%.
Oil futures rallied past the $75 a barrel mark, while gold futures edged up slightly.
The euro (CUR_EURUSD 1.2222, +0.0095, +0.7835%) also climbed, rising over 1% to $1.2246.
