Stock futures higher; factory orders ahead

MADRID (MarketWatch) — U.S. stock market futures pointed to a firmer open for Wall Street on Monday, but investors remained wary ahead of key employment figures due later in the week that could be a deciding factor for when the Federal Reserve decides to taper its bond-buying program.

For Monday, factory orders are due, and investors will be scouring a positive piece of data out of China. Kellogg Co. is also due to report ahead of the opening bell.

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Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJZ3)  rose 35 points to 15,576, while those for the S&P 500 index (SPZ3)  gained 4 points to 1,758.70. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index (NDZ3)  added 13 points, or 0.4%, to 3,381.

Investors are waiting on big data to come later in the week: Third-quarter growth statistics and the key October nonfarm-payrolls report. Ahead of that on Monday, factory orders for September are due at 10 a.m. Eastern Time, with a consensus forecast for a 1.7% rise versus a 2.4% drop in July, according to economists polled by MarketWatch.

"The market's Kryptonite is early taper talk at the moment, and this first full week of November has the potential for it to be hurled at it from all directions with no shortage of U.S. economic data on the agenda, including the all-important October payrolls report and the advanced estimate of Q3 GDP," said Jim Reid, strategist at Deutsche Bank, in a note. Also read: Are the bears right about a November correction

Getty Images Enlarge Image WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 12: The seal of the Federal Reserve is on display as Chairman Ben Bernanke holds a press conference following a Federal Open Market Committee meeting at the Federal Reserve Bank headquaters December 12, 2012 in Washington, DC.

Reid said there were some signs of risk being taken off the table already, given the softer emerging-markets equities, fixed income and currencies seen overnight.

A handful of Federal Reserve speakers are scheduled for Monday, such as St. Louis Fed President James Bullard. Speaking early on CNBC, the voting member of the Fed's policy-making committee said October's job data will be hard to gauge. He also said he was encouraged by third-quarter gross domestic product estimates.

Overnight, Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher suggested at a business lunch in Sydney that a tapering move could come sooner than expected, and that fiscal risks shouldn't stop the Fed from doing what is right for the economy.

At 11:40 a.m. Eastern, Fed Governor Jerome Powell will speak on Fed policy and emerging markets at a conference in San Francisco.

Then at 2 p.m. Eastern, Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren, who is also a voting member of the Fed's policy-making committee, is due to speak on the economy at the University of Massachusetts in Boston.

Earnings from Kellogg (K)  and Sysco Corp. (SYY)  are also due ahead of the opening bell. Shares of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A) (BRK.B)  could also be active after the conglomerate posted a 29% rise in third-quarter profit.

U.S.-listed shares of HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC)   (UK:HSBA)  could rise after the investment bank reported a 30% rise in third-quarter pretax profit, news that boosted shares more than 2% in London.

Shares of BlackBerry Ltd. (BBRY)  rose 2.7% in premarket trading ahead of Monday's deadline for Fairfax Financial, the company's biggest shareholder, to raise the needed cash for its $4.7 billion bid. Several other potential bidders are mulling bids, media reports said.

In Asia, stocks finished mostly lower, surrendering earlier gains after China's official Non-Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index rose to 56.3 in October — the highest reading in 14 months. Investors in Asia will be looking to an upcoming meeting of China's Communist Party, where the new regime is tapped to talk about the reform agenda.

Europe stocks traded higher, helped by upbeat HSBC results.