By Tomi Kilgore and Tommy Stubbington June 2, 2014 8:26 a.m. ET U.S. stock futures edged higher to start the week, as upbeat data out of China helped support the market's steady rise to record highs. About 90 minutes ahead of the open, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 15 points, or 0.1%, to 16719. S&P 500 index futures tacked on one point, or 0.1%, to 1922 and Nasdaq-100 futures gained two points, or 0.1%, to 3737. Changes in stock futures don't always accurately predict stock moves after the opening bell. On Friday, both the Dow and the S&P 500 closed at record highs to cap a fourth-straight monthly gain for the benchmark indexes. A slow-but-steady improvement in the U.S. economy has helped fuel the market's steady grind higher in recent weeks Helping support Monday's early gains, China's manufacturing purchasing managers index for May released over the weekend climbed to a five-month high of 50.8 from April's 50.4, exceeded expectations of a rise to 50.6. The manufacturing data "provided further reassurance that the economic growth in China has at least started to stabilize in the near term," said Lee Hardman, a currency analyst at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ. At 10 a.m. EDT, the Institute for Supply Management's purchasing managers index for May is expected to increase to 55.6 from 54.9 in April. At the same time, construction spending for April is seen rising 0.7% on the month. But investors will be looking ahead to the closely watched monthly employment report due out at the end of the week. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note ticked up to 2.494% from 2.459% late Friday. Crude oil futures gained 0.1% to $102.84 a barrel, while gold futures edged up 0.1% to $1,246.80 an ounce, after settling Friday at a four-month low. The dollar gained ground against the euro and the yen. European markets were broadly higher, as the upbeat Chinese data and hopes of further stimulus from the European Central Bank helped lift sentiment. The Stoxx Europe 600 gained 0.3%, and was headed for the highest close since January 2008. The euro zone's manufacturing purchasing managers index fell to 52.2 in May from April's 53.4, missing forecasts of 52.5. Data also showed that manufacturing activity in Germany expanded at a slower rate that expected, but contracted less than expected in France. The data had investors looking ahead to the ECB's meeting on Thursday, at which officials are widely expected to introduce new measures to ease monetary policy. Germany's DAX 30 index gained 0.2%, France's CAC 40 eased less than 0.1% and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 tacked on 0.3%. Asian markets rallied. Japan's Nikkei Stock Average climbed 2.1% to an eight-week high, boosted by the Chinese PMI data, and hopes that the government's pension fund will allocate more money to stocks. Markets in China were closed for a holiday. In corporate news, Broadcom rallied 12% in premarket trading after the semiconductor maker said it is exploring options for its cellular baseband business, including a potential sale or wind-down. The company also affirmed its revenue outlook for the current quarter. American Realty Capital Healthcare Trust surged 12% after the real-estate investment trust agreed to be acquired by competitor Ventas in a $2.6 billion cash-and-stock deal. Ventas' stock was still untraded in the premarket. Google edged up 0.1% after The Wall Street Journal reported that the company plans to spend more than $1 billion on satellites to extend Internet access to unwired regions around the world. Write to Tomi Kilgore at tomi.kilgore@wsj.com and Tommy Stubbington at tommy.stubbington@wsj.com

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