Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open on Monday, as market players monitored movements in the price of oil while awaiting more comments from Federal Reserve officials.
The blue-chip Dow futures inched up 26 points, or 0.15%, by 10:50GMT, or 6:50AM ET, the S&P 500 futures tacked on 5 points, or 0.23%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 12 points, or 0.26%.
Oil prices attempted to battle back from four-week lows in North American trade on Monday, despite doubts over an eventual deal to freeze output.
Brent oil traded at $38.68 a barrel in New York morning hours after falling to as low as $38.12 earlier in the session, while U.S. oil futures were at $36.72, off session lows of $36.12.
Meanwhile, market players will be paying attention to a few FOMC member speeches later Monday to further judge the balance of opinion among policymakers on the prospect of further rate hikes.
Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren is due to speak at 10:15AM ET, while Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari and Dallas Fed President Rob Kaplan are scheduled to speak after the market closes.
On the data front, the U.S. is to release data on February factory orders at 14:00GMT, or 10:00AM ET.
Among active pre-market movers, Virgin America Inc (NASDAQ:VA) shares surged 36% ahead of the opening bell after it agreed to be acquired by Alaska Air Group Inc (NYSE:ALK) for $2.6 billion. Alaska's offer of $57 per share in cash represents a premium of about 47% to Virgin's Friday's close.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) shares jumped more than 4% after orders for its new Model 3 electric sedan topped 276,000 since the company starting accepting deposits on March 21.
Elsewhere, European markets pushed higher in choppy trade on Monday, as a slight pick-up in oil prices helped offset sharp falls in the French telecom sector. Earlier, markets in Asia ended mixed, with shares in Japan closing lower as the yen strengthened.
In the currencies market, the U.S. dollar found some support after robust U.S. employment data indicated strength in the economy and stoked speculation the Fed could raise interest rates soon.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.25% at 94.82, moving away from last week’s five-and-a-half month low of 94.30.