US Stocks futures climbed higher on Monday as global markets rallied and money market rates eased further.

At 7:06 am ET, Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures expiring in December gained 7.10 points to 974.40. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 72 points to 9370. Nasdaq Composite Index futures increased 15.75 points to 1338.50.

October turned out to be one of the worst months for markets in recent history. Dow finished with a monthly loss of 14.1% while S&P500 and Nasdaq Composite were down 16.9% and 17.7% respectively. However, there was some relief to the investors in the last week of the month and indexes posted impressive gains. Dow finished with a weekly gain of 11.3% while S&P500 and Nasdaq Composite advanced 10.5% and 10.9% in the week.
 
Wall Street will be keenly watching the US presidential elections this week. The voting scheduled for Tuesday November 4, 2008. In various opinion polls, Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama has taken huge lead over his Republican challenger Senator John McCain. Investors are also awaiting monthly payrolls and unemployment data, scheduled for release on Friday, November 7, 2008.

Money market rates fell for the 16th straight day. According to the British Bankers' Association, the London interbank offered rate, or LIBOR, declined 17 basis points to 2.86%. The overnight rate dropped 2 basis points to 0.39%. The Libor-OIS spread narrowed 16 basis points to 223 basis points.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber (NYSE: GT), Mastercard (NYSE: MA) and Viacom (NYSE: VIA) will be reporting their earnings today.

On the front of economic data, Monday will see the release of Institute of Supply Management's manufacturing index for October at 10:00 am ET. Construction Spending for September is also due for release at 10:00 am ET.

Meanwhile, private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts has decided to delay public listing until next year. In a statement KKR Private Equity Investors said "Sources of liquidity may be not only more difficult, but also impossible to obtain in the current market environment."

In a statement on Monday, Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Jeffrey Lacker said "I think it's definitely a recession at this point. How deep, how steep, and long it's going to be is uncertain." He added further "Shifts in expectations regarding official intervention may have added volatility to financial-asset markets that were already roiled by an increasingly uncertain growth outlook."

European stocks were trading in green in afternoon trade. At 12:14 London time, U.K. FTSE rose 0.53 points or 0.53% to 4,400.58. The German DAX and French CAC climbed 1.04% and 0.32% respectively.

European Commission on Monday said that the outlook for eurozone remains bleak further ahead and several of the EU economies are already in or close to a recession. ECB is expected to lower key interest rate this week.

Asian stocks surged up on Monday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 375.7 points or 2.69% to 14,344.37. Straits Index jumped 89.55 points or 4.99% to 1,883.75.

Disclosure: Author does not own any of the stocks discussed here.