Stock index futures edge up on euro zone hopes

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were set to tick higher at the open on Monday as international creditors made progress following a visit to Greece, adding to last week's plans from the European Central Bank to lower borrowing costs in Spain and Italy.

The euro was flat after recent steep gains against the U.S. dollar as caution remained about how effective the action pledged by the ECB would be.

Inspectors from the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the ECB concluded a visit to Greece on Sunday saying the talks with the new coalition government were productive.

Wall Street rallied on Friday to its highest level since early May on a strong U.S. jobs report and renewed hope European authorities would act to contain the euro zone debt crisis through ECB purchases of Italian and Spanish bonds.

The tick up in futures is a spillover of last week's bullish news from the ECB and the strong U.S. payrolls report, according to Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co in Lake Oswego, Oregon.

"It's follow-through with a little bit of relief that (ECB President Mario) Draghi's remarks point to at least a work-around for Europe."

"People are more encouraged the economic slowdown in the U.S. may have reached a plateau," he added, regarding Friday's payrolls report.

A group of investors will rescue embattled market maker Knight Capital Group Inc in a $400 million deal that keeps the company in business, Knight said on Monday, but comes at a huge cost to investors. Knight shares fell roughly 30 percent in premarket trading.

S&P 500 futures rose 3 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 15 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 11.5 points.

Best Buy shares jumped 25 percent premarket after founder and former Chairman Richard Schulze offered to buy the shares he does not already own in the electronics retailer for $24 to $26 each.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp shares rose more than 10 percent premarket after the information technology services provider raised its full-year adjusted profit forecast.

Las Vegas Sands shares fell 1.5 percent premarket. The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday the casino operator is the target of a federal investigation into possible violations of money-laundering laws.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos, editing by Dave Zimmerman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stock-index-futures-signal-mixed-open-090335437--finance.html

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