Stocks are indicated modestly higher on better-than-expected consumer spending data and a round of merger news Monday morning. Thirty minutes before the opening bell on Wall Street, stock index futures indicate that the Dow Jones Industrial Average might add 30 or 40 points at the open.

Stock index futures rose after the Commerce Department said consumer spending rose at a .5 percent rate in January, which was a bit better than the .4 percent increase that economists had predicted. Meanwhile, incomes rose just .1 percent and much less than the .4 percent increase that was expected.

Attention turns to the ISM manufacturing index and construction spending numbers at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. Economists expect ISM to slip to 58 in February, down from 58.4 the month before. Construction spending probably fell by .6 percent in January, according to economists.

Bonds are holding modest gains ahead of te news. The benchmark ten-year Treasury is up 2/32nd and yields 3.6 percent.

The dollar added .36 to 89.20 against the yen. The euro edged down .0082 to 1.3521 against the buck.

Action in the commodities markets is mixed. While crude oil added more than 70 cents to recapture $80 a barrel, gold slipped $2.90 to $1116 an ounce.

Meanwhile, AIG shares rallied 13.8 percent on news it will sell its Asia operations to UK’s Prudential PLC for $35.5 billion in cash and stock.

A series of other mergers was announced. Germany’s Merck KGaA is taking out Millipore (MIL) for $7.2 billion. MIL is up 11 percent. RiskMetrics (RISK) jumped 13 percent after MSCI made a bid for the company. OSI Pharmaceuticals (OSIP) received an offer from Astellas Pharma, which sent OSIP soaring more than 45 percent.