U.S. futures edge higher ahead of Apple earnings; Dow up 0.2%

Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a modestly higher open on Monday, as markets stabilized following a broad based selloff in stocks and emerging market currencies on Friday.

Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a gain of 0.2%, S&P 500 futures signaled a rise of 0.3%, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated an increase of 0.15%.

U.S. stocks suffered their worst weekly loss since 2011 last week, with the Dow plunging 318 points on Friday.

The selloff in financial markets was triggered after data last week pointed to a steeper than expected slowdown in Chinese manufacturing, fuelling fears that weakness could spread to other emerging market economies.

Investors were looking ahead to the outcome of the Federal Reserve’s monthly meeting on Wednesday, amid expectations for a reduction in its bond buying program to USD65 billion from the current USD75 billion.

The policy meeting will mark the last for outgoing Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, as current Vice Chair Janet Yellen prepares to take over.

In addition, the initial estimate of U.S. fourth quarter gross domestic product is reported on Thursday.

Apple was expected to be in focus, with the iPhone maker scheduled to release quarterly earnings after Monday’s closing bell.

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were mixed. The EURO STOXX 50 inched up 0.1%, France’s CAC 40 shed 0.1%, Germany's DAX slipped 0.3%, while Britain's FTSE 100 lost 1.4%.

The German research institute Ifo said its business climate index rose to 110.6 in January, above forecasts for a reading of 110.0 and up from 109.5 in December, indicating that businesses in the euro zone’s largest economy had a strong start to the year.

During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index tumbled 2.12%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index dropped 2.51%.

Later in the day, the U.S. was release data on new home sales.