Stock index futures point to higher Wall Street open

(Reuters) - Stock futures for the Dow Jones industrial average share index gained 1.3 percent, for the S&P 500 were up 0.8 percent, while futures for the Nasdaq 100 were 0.8 percent higher.

President Barack Obama is due to release his first budget proposal, an outline of the budget for the 2010 fiscal year. The budget will reflect big increases in spending on public works that were part of the $787 billion economic recovery plan that Obama signed this week.

The Obama administration ordered the nation's 19 biggest banks to undergo stress tests to check whether they could hold up if the economy deteriorated further, the New York Times said.

JP Morgan Chase holds its annual investor day. Investors will watch for updates on the bank's acquisitions of Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual, and details on the performance of JPMorgan's consumer businesses, which Chief Executive Jamie Dimon has repeatedly said are coming under pressure as unemployment rises.

Durable goods orders for January are due at 8:30 a.m. EST and will probably show the sixth straight monthly decline with a fall of 2.5 percent, a half percentage point recovery from December's 3 percent fall. Weekly jobless data, due at the same time, is expected to stay flat at 625,000 new claims.

Dell is due to report quarterly results as demand for personal computers slows to a crawl.

Gap reports fourth-quarter earnings. Analysts will be looking to see if the apparel retailer whose brands include Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic is able to maintain its profit margins despite major discounting during the holiday season.

Other companies reporting include Sears Holdings , Visa and grocery store Safeway .

(Reporting by Simon Falush; Editing by Hans Peters)