Stock index futures signal slight gains

CME Group Inc , the biggest U.S. futures exchange operator, is looking to create a European derivatives exchange in Britain, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing two people familiar with the matter.

Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago releases its Chicago Fed National Activity Index for July at 1230 GMT. The index read -0.15 in the prior month.

Insurer Aetna Inc has signed a deal to buy rival Coventry Health Care Inc for $5.7 billion in cash and stock, the Wall Street Journal reported, the latest in a string of multi-billion-dollar acquisitions in the U.S. healthcare sector.

Struggling retailer Best Buy Co Inc said its founder Richard Schulze has turned down an offer from the board to conduct due diligence in connection with his proposal to take the company private at a valuation of more than $8 billion.

The global economic outlook is more uncertain now than at the start of the financial crisis in late 2008, Doug Oberhelman, chief executive of Caterpillar , the world's largest maker of construction equipment, said on Monday.

Golden Pass Products LLC, a joint venture of Exxon Mobil Corp and Qatar Petroleum, is seeking U.S. authorities' permission to export liquefied natural gas from a terminal near the Texas-Louisiana border, the Wall Street Journal said, quoting an executive.

European stocks <.FTEU3>, which have rallied sharply since late July, fell 0.1 percent on Monday although the losses were limited by growing expectation of bold action from the European Central Bank to lower the borrowing costs of Spain and Italy.

The S&P 500 held near a four-year high on Friday, and the market's key gauge of anxiety sank to its lowest since 2007, suggesting a belief that the problems worrying investors might be closer to a resolution.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 25.09 points, or 0.19 percent, at 13,275.20. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was up 2.65 points, or 0.19 percent, at 1,418.16. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 14.20 points, or 0.46 percent, at 3,076.59. (Reporting by Atul Prakash; editing by Stephen Nisbet)

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