Stock futures point to higher Wall Street open

Citigroup Chief Executive Vikram Pandit said the bank had been profitable in the first two months of the year, according to an internal memo obtained by Reuters.

Roche was scheduled to hold its annual shareholder meeting and may have news about its bid to acquire Genentech . A source familiar with the situation said the Swiss drugmaker was prepared to raise its bid to $95 per share to win over shareholders.

At 7:35 a.m. EDT, ICSC/Goldman Sachs release chain store sales for the week ended March 7 versus the prior week. In the previous week, sales fell 0.6 percent.

Redbook releases at 8:55 a.m. EDT its Retail Sales Index of department and chain store sales for March versus February. In the prior period, sales rose 0.8 percent.

Investor's Business Daily and TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence release at 1400 GMT the IBD consumer confidence index for March. The index read 44.6 in February.

Commerce Department releases wholesale inventories for January. Economists in a Reuters survey forecast inventories to fall by 1.0 percent in January versus a decline of 1.4 percent in December. The figures were due at 1400 GMT.

Kroger , the largest U.S. grocery chain, was due to release fourth quarter results. The company has warned investors to expect slower sales growth in 2009 as consumers pare spending in response to the recession and discounters, such as Wal-Mart, provide tough competition.

Home builder Hovnanian Enterprises was due to report first-quarter results.

Shares of Johnson Controls fell 9.7 percent to $8.68 in extended trade on Monday after the company announced plans to sell 8 million equity units and $100 million in convertible senior notes due 2012.

(Reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Dan Lalor)

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