US Stock Futures Slightly Up As Crude Oil Prices Surge Above $108 a barrel, Vodafone Group In Focus

US stock futures are slightly higher this morning, after the earlier session's gains. Crude oil prices surged above $108 a barrel. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 10 points to 12,328.00 and futures on the S&P 500 stock index gained 1.70 points to 1,329.40. Nasdaq 100 futures added 8.25 points to 2,346.75. US stocks closed higher on Friday, with the Dow Jones industrial average gaining 57 points to 12,377, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rising 7 points to 1,332 and the Nasdaq Composite Index gaining 9 points to 2,790. Shares of Vodafone Group Plc VOD gained about 0.86% in pre-market trading after the company announced its plans to sell its 44% stake in SFR to Vivendi SA for 7.95 billion euros ($11 billion). A. Schulman Inc SHLM is expected to report its FQ2 EPS at $0.33 on revenue of $423.60 million. Shares of Ambassadors International AMIE dipped more than 78% in pre-market trading after the company agreed to sell all of its assets, including its principal operating unit, Windstar Cruises, to Whippoorwill Associates Inc, through a court-supervised sale process. As per the agreement terms, AMIE and its US subsidiaries voluntarily filed petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 in the US Bankruptcy Court of Delaware. Asian markets ended higher, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average surging 0.11%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gaining 0.61% and China's Shanghai Composite rising 1.34%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index climbed 1.46% and India's Sensex surged 1.48%. Positive sentiment ruled the European markets today. While STOXX Europe 600 Index has gained 0.15%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.27%. Nymex crude oil for May delivery gained $0.50 to $108.44 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. Brent crude prices rose $0.75 to $119.44 a barrel on ICE Futures. Gold futures rose, with the June contract gaining $6.60 to $1,435.50 an ounce on Globex. The dollar index (DXY) gained 0.08% to 75.90. The Australian dollar traded as high as $1.0416 against the US dollar. Read more from Benzinga's Markets.