Stock futures pointed to a higher opening on Wall Street after the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve unveiled sweeping steps to support embattled mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
* By 0943 GMT, S&P 500 futures are up 0.7%, Dow Jones industrial average futures up 0.5% and futures for the Nasdaq 100 up 0.6%.
* The Frankfurt-listed shares of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rise 16% and 22% in Frankfurt.
* The Fed said the two pillars of the U.S. housing market could access its discount window for emergency cash while the Treasury said it would temporarily increase its line of credit to the two, as well as purchase equity in them, if necessary.
* The move by the Fed echoed its emergency action to help rescue investment bank Bear Stearns in March, when it opened the discount window to investment banks for the first time since the Great Depression.
"One should not put too much hope into it," said Tammo Greetfeld, equity strategist at Unicredit Group. "On the one hand, it's supportive that the U.S. government is willing to take action, but of course with what we know so far, the problems are not solved and it's also a reminder that the pressure on the banking sector continues to persist."
* U.S. stocks fell on Friday as fears about the stability of the two home financing providers combined with oil at a record above $147 to cloud the economic outlook. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 128.48 points, or 1.14%, to 11,100.54, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index slid 13.90 points, or 1.11%, to 1,239.49, and the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 18.77 points, or 0.83%, to 2,239.08.
* On the M&A front, U.S. brewer Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc accepted a sweetened $52 bln takeover bid from Belgium-based InBev NV to create the world's largest beer maker and end a month-long standoff.
* Yahoo Inc on Saturday rejected a proposal to sell its search business to Microsoft Corp and hand over the remainder of the company to activist investor Carl Icahn.
* Major companies due to report earnings on Monday include Genentech, Novellus Systems Inc and M&T Bank Corporation.
* There are no major economic indicators out on Monday.
