Stocks: Ready to rally
Futures advance. Retail sales make gains. Bernanke to speak on economic outlook. GM, in first post-bankruptcy report, says it lost $1.2 billion. Gold hits another record.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stocks looked ready for a strong start Monday, as investors continue to be upbeat about the economic recovery following a key report on retail sales and ahead of comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
The S&P 500, Nasdaq-100 and Dow Jones industrial average futures were higher.
Futures measure current index values against their perceived future performance and offer an indication of how markets may open when trading begins.
Wall Street has rallied for the past two weeks as investors have gained confidence in the pace of the economic recovery.
"There really just doesn't seem to be anything holding this market back," said Manus Cranny, senior market commentator of MF Global Spreads in London.
Cranny said the markets are being driven by "a tsunami of positive sentiment."
Economy: Retail sales jumped 1.4% in October from the prior month, according to the Census Bureau, exceeding the increase of 0.9% expected by a consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com. Sales without automobiles rose 0.2%, falling short of the 0.4% gain that was forecast by Briefing.com consensus.
That's compared to an overall decline of 1.5%, or an increase of 0.5% without auto sales, the prior month.
A survey on manufacturing in New York state also comes out at 8:30 a.m. ET. That's followed by a report on September business inventories at 10 a.m. ET.
The Fed: Bernanke will offer an outlook of the U.S. economy at a speech in New York City, starting at 12:15 p.m. ET.
Autos: General Motors, releasing its first financial results since emerging from bankruptcy in July, said it lost $1.2 billion in the third quarter. It also said it would begin repaying government loans in December. The U.S. government will received $1 billion, with nearly $200 million going to the Canadian and Ontario governments.
World markets: Stocks worldwide were lifted amid optimism that governments would keep up stimulus efforts. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei added 0.2%. European shares jumped in midday trading.
Money, oil and gold: The anemic dollar was lower versus major international currencies.
Commodities continued to benefit from the weaker greenback. Oil for December delivery jumped 68 cents to $77.03 a barrel.
And gold prices, which have been on a tear this month, reached a new record of $1,133.50 a troy ounce before retreating slightly. The precious metal was still up $11.90 per troy ounce to $1,128.60 in electronic trading. 
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