Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a moderately higher open on Monday, as trading volumes were expected to remain thin with no U.S. economic reports to be released throughout the session.
Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.08% gain, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.13% rise, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.14% increase.
Markets were jittery as sharp losses in property and banking shares in Hong Kong weighed after official data showed that Chinese home prices fell for the first time in 14 months in January.
In addition, U.S. equity markets remained under pressure after the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s January meeting last week showed that officials agreed the current pace of reductions to the bank’s asset purchase program would remain unchanged, so long as the economy shows signs of improvement.
Investors were also monitoring developments in Ukraine, after the country's parliament voted on Saturday to remove President Viktor Yanukovich, giving interim presidential powers to an ally of Yulia Tymoshenko, the former prime minister. The interim government has indicated that it will push more integration with Europe.
Netflix was expected to be active, following reports the company has agreed to pay for more-direct access to Comcast Corp.'s broadband network, in a move to improve speed and reliability for its video-streaming customers.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. was also likely to be in focus, once again, as the gambling company said it is ready to invest $10 billion in Japan, which is projected to be Asia's second-largest casino market.
The company made headlines two weeks ago after it was attacked by hackers who defaced at least one company website and posted personal information about employees.
Elsewhere, Bloomberg reported that Cinven Ltd., a Europe-focused private-equity firm, is nearing an deal to buy Cincinnati-based Medpace Inc., a provider of clinical developmental services for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, from CCMP Capital for about $900 million.
Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were lower. The EURO STOXX 50 edged down 0.10%, France’s CAC 40 eased 0.04%, Germany's DAX slipped 0.19%, while Britain's FTSE 100 declined 0.43%.
During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index retreated 0.80%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index fell 0.19%.