MARKET SNAPSHOT: U.S. Stocks: Futures Up As Russia-Ukraine Tensions Ebb

By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch

MADRID (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock market futures pointed to a higher open for Wall Street on Monday, amid waning geopolitical tensions and deal news.

Investors were also looking foward to a big week of economic events and appearances by Federal Reserve officials. Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen will give a speech at the annual central bankers' summit in Jackson Hole, Wyo. toward the end of the week.

A home builders' index for August kicks off the week's data on Monday. On the company side, Family Dollar Stores Inc. shares rose in premarket on a rival buyout offer from Dollar General Corp.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJU4) rose 82 points, or 0.5%, to 16,713, while those for the S&P 500 index (SPU4) added 9.7 points, or 0.5%, to 1,962.10. Futures for the Nasdaq 100 index (NDU4) gained 19.50 points, or 0.5%, to 4,004.50.

"Wall Street is once again coming up to tackle technical resistance, but with the momentum built up over the last week, conversations are likely to turn towards when, not if, it can tackle the 17,000 level again," said Alastair McCaig, market analyst at IG, in a note.

Helping out, he said, was the solid bounce off lows seen Friday. The Dow industrials (DJI) recovered from a triple-digit fall on news of a clash between Ukraine and Russian military units to finish the week up 0.7%, while the S&P 500 index (SPX) rose 1.2% on the week. Also read: Where Soros and other big investors are putting their money right now

Foreign ministers from Ukraine and Russia met over the weekend and an agreement was reached over a convoy of what Russia says is humanitarian aid. However, no progress was made toward a cease-fire in Eastern Ukraine. The news pushed the Europe Stoxx 600 to near August highs, helping to underpin stock futures. Asian stocks posted mostly modest gains.

On the economic front, the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index for August will be released at 10 a.m. Eastern Time. The week also should bring consumer prices, minutes of the latest Federal Open Market Committee meeting and existing-home sales on Friday.

Fed Chairwoman Yellen is expected to tell the annual Fed symposium later this week that there's still slack in the job market, and she is not expected to shift any signal in the easy-money stance of the Fed, Jan Hatzius, chief economist at Goldman Sachs, said in an interview with MarketWatch.

Jitters over the timing of the first interest-rate hike from the Fed has made investors uneasy, and they may be looking for any signs of a timeline from the central bank.

Dollar General makes play for Family Dollar

Shares of Dollar General Corp.(DG) rose 8% in premarket trading after offering to buy rival Family Dollar Stores Inc. (FDO) in an all-cash proposal worth $78.50 a share. That's higher than Dollar Tree Inc.'s (DLTR) cash-and-stock bid in July of $74.50 a share. Family Dollar rose 5% in premarket and Dollar Tree fell 2%.

Ingersoll-Rand PLC (IR) said Monday it will buy the assets of Cameron International Corp.'s(CAM) Centrifugal Compression unit for $850 million. Neither shares were moving in premarket.

Also Sensata Technologies Holding NV(ST) said it will buy Schrader, a maker of tire pressure monitoring sensors, from private-equity group Madison Dearborn Partners in a deal valued at $1 billion.

Several big-name retailers will line up to report this week, including Home Depot Inc. (HD) on Tuesday and Target Corp. (TGT) on Wednesday.

Oil prices(CLU4), meanwhile, fell on news that Iraqi Kurds had recaptured a large chunk of the biggest dam in the country from Islamist militants, with help from U.S. air power.

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