U.S. stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Monday, as investors prepared themselves for another batch of corporate earnings, while waiting to hear for any comments made by key Federal Reserve officials.
Dow futures rose 100 points, while S&P and Nasdaq futures gained 10.5 points and 34.5 points, respectively.
Aside from the upcoming U.S. election, the U.S. central bank continues to be of importance to investors, as traders debate when the Fed will next choose to raise interest rates.
At the Association for University Business and Economic Research's Fall Conference Monday morning, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said in prepared remarks that low interest rates will likely be the norm during the next two to three years.
With real safe rates of return exceptionally low and not expected to rise soon, interest rates should be expected to stay exceptionally low during the forecast horizon, he said.
Bullard's comments come one month after he voted against hiking the federal funds rate.
Meanwhile, New York Fed President William Dudley will be speaking in New York at "The Evolving Structure of the U.S. Treasury Market: Second Annual Conference". Fed Governor Jerome Powell will also be speaking at the event in the afternoon, to discuss the future of Treasury market settlement.
At 1.30 p.m. ET, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans is set to give a speech at The Civic Affairs Society of the University Club of Chicago Luncheon.
For Monday, it remains relatively quiet on the economic data front, with investors focusing predominantly on the release of the Markit flash U.S. manufacturing PMI data, due out at 9.45 a.m. ET.
Elsewhere, oil prices held lower on Monday, with U.S. WTI trading around $50.23 per barrel at 8:32 a.m. ET, while Brent hovered around $51.35.
European stocks traded mostly higher during its morning session, whileAsia-Pacific indexes ended mixed to higher overnight. In the previous session, U.S. stocks closed mostly flat.
