Stock index futures jumped on Monday on optimism over the latest round of proposals out of Europe designed to corral the growing Eurozone debt crisis.

* Germany and France were exploring radical ways to integrate Eurozone countries in order to impose tighter budget control, European Union sources told Reuters over the weekend.

* Sentiment was also boosted after an Italian newspaper report suggested the International Monetary Fund was preparing a rescue plan for Italy worth up to 600 billion euros ($801.4 bilion). The report was dismissed by an IMF spokesperson.

* S&P 500 futures jumped 31.7 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 gained 258 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 51.5 points.

* Last week, the S&P 500 fell 4.7 percent, giving back almost two-thirds of its gains in October, its best month in 20 years. The Dow was off 4.8 percent for the week, and the Nasdaq fell 5.1 percent.

* European stocks rose more than two percent on Monday, led by shares of financial institutions helped by renewed hopes about of an easing of the debt crisis.

* U.S. President Barack Obama will press EU officials on Monday to reach a definitive solution to their sovereign debt crisis, which is emerging as a major 2012 U.S. election worry.

* Some analysts saw any gains mostly as a technical bounce after Wall Street suffered its worst week in two months last week. The lack of a credible solution to Europe's debt crisis has kept investors away from risky assets and downgrades of Belgium and Hungary added to the gloom.

* Also boosting the market's mood, a trade group said U.S. retailers racked up a record $52.4 billion in sales over the Thanksgiving weekend, a 16.4 percent jump from a year ago.

* Shares of Best Buy Co. rose 3.4 percent to $26.50 in very light premarket trade.

* The Commerce Department releases new home sales at 10 a.m. EST. Economists forecast a total of 315,000 annualized units, compared with 313,000 units in September.

* The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago releases its Midwest Manufacturing Index for October at 8:30 a.m. EST. The index read 85.2 in September.

(Reporting by Angela Moon; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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