U.S. stock index futures gained on Monday, taking a cue from rising global markets, as a weaker dollar lifted commodities prices in a potential boost to natural resource stocks.

Investors will look to October retail sales data for clues about consumer spending ahead of the holiday season, and the New York Federal Reserve's Empire State manufacturing survey will provide an early gauge of economic activity in November. Both surveys are due at 8:30 a.m. EST (GMT 1330)

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will speak on economic conditions in an address to the Economic Club of New York at 12:15 p.m. EST (1715 GMT). Investors are keen for signs of how the Fed will remove stimulus measures from the economy.

You've got oil trading up 1.5 percent, the energy complex up, the metals complex up, (agricultural) commodities looking higher, all of this on the heals of a dollar that's giving up some of its luster, said Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co in New York.

S&P 500 futures gained 7.8 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 64 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 9.5 points.

U.S. network equipment maker Cisco Systems Inc raised its bid for Tandberg ASA , the Norwegian video conferencing equipment maker.

General Motors Co will disclose plans on Monday to start repaying a $6.7 billion loan to the U.S. Treasury by year-end as operations improve, a source knowledgeable about the situation said.

The dollar slipped 0.5 percent against a basket of currencies, while oil futures rose 1 percent to above $77 a barrel, clawing back most of last week's losses, and gold touched a fresh high above $1,130 an ounce in Europe.

Chinese stocks jumped 2.7 percent, while Japan's Nikkei average <.N225> rose 0.2 percent, and European shares <.FTEU3> were up 1 percent, flirting with a 13-month high, driven higher by commodities-related shares such as Rio Tinto Plc and Xstrata Plc .

(Reporting by Edward Krudy; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

Ben Bernanke