On a lean day of economic announcements, investors continue to mull over the U.S. shutdown, expectations on Fed rate cuts and geopolitical developments on Monday.

This week's trading might be influenced the decision on the shutdown. Traders are likely to keep an eye on a preliminary reading on consumer sentiment in October as well as the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting.

In the Asian trading session, oil prices were up one percent. OPEC+ is expected to increase production by 137,000 barrels a day in November. The dollar was little changed on Monday.

Gold surged more than 1 percent to above $3,900 an ounce.

Asian shares finished mostly up, while European shares are trading broadly higher.

As of 8.15 am ET, the Dow futures were gaining 81.00 points, the S&P 500 futures were adding 25.25 points and the Nasdaq 100 futures were progressing 224.25 points.

While the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 63.54 points or 0.3 percent to 22,780.51, the S&P 500 crept up 0.44 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 6,715.79 and the Dow climbed 238.56 points or 0.5 percent to 46,758.28.

On the economic front, the 3-month and 6-month Treasury bill auction will be held at 11.30 am ET.

Asian shares fell on Monday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 0.67 percent to 26,957.77.

Japanese markets bucked the weak trend. The Nikkei average jumped 4.75 percent to a record high of 47,944.76 while the broader Topix index settled 3.10 higher at 3,226.06.

Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 hit a fresh August high.