U.S. futures point higher in thin trade; Dow Jones up 0.30%

Investing.com - U.S. stock futures pointed to a higher open on Monday, as Friday's upbeat U.S. economic growth data continued to support market sentiment in holiday-thinned trade.

Ahead of the open, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures pointed to a 0.30% gain, S&P 500 futures signaled a 0.41% increase, while the Nasdaq 100 futures indicated a 0.69% climb.

Sentiment remained supported after official data on Friday showed that U.S. gross domestic product expanded by 4.1% in the third quarter, above initial estimates for 3.6% growth.

U.S. equities had rallied last week after the Federal Reserve announced that it would reduce its USD85 billion-a-month bond buying program by USD10 billion in January. Outgoing Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the economy was continuing to make progress.

The U.S. central bank reiterated that interest rates are likely to remain low even after the unemployment rate drops below 6.5%, the threshold at which the Fed has previously said it would start to consider rate increases.

The tech sector was expected to be active, following reports of a deal between Apple and China Mobile to launch the iPhone across China next month, sending shares in the U.S. company up 3.27% in pre-market trade.

Luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co. was also likely to be in focus, as it ordered to pay Swatch an arbitration award of about CHF402 million after the Swiss watch maker claimed a breach of contract at their joint venture.

In the financial sector, Bloomberg reported that the U.K.'s Standard Chartered and U.S. lender Citigroup are struggling to sustain profits in South Korea, where the economy us plagued by rising household debt.

Standard Chartered took a USD1 billion writedown on the value of its business in the country in August, while Citigroup said Chief Financial Officer John GerspachKorea will hurt the U.S. bank's revenue in Asia through 2014.

Other stocks likely to be in focus included Piedmont Natural Gas Company, scheduled to release quarterly earnings later in the day.

Across the Atlantic, European stock markets were higher. The EURO STOXX 50 added 0.18%, France’s CAC 40 inched up 0.05%, Germany's DAX gained 0.47%, while Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.36%.

During the Asian trading session, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index advanced 0.48%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index remained closed for a national holiday.

Later in the day, the U.S. was to release official data on personal spending, as well as a report by the University of Michigan on consumer sentiment.