Stock index futures gain, focus on earnings LONDON (Reuters) - Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and the Nasdaq 100 rising 0.3 to 0.5 percent. Boeing Co (BA.N) on Monday began installing reinforced lithium ion batteries on five grounded 787 jets owned by launch customer All Nippon Airways (9202.T), starting a process that should make the first commercial Dreamliners ready to fly again in about a week. Automation technology group ABB (ABBN.VX) is to buy renewable energy firm Power-One Inc (PWER.O) for around $1 billion to step up its presence in the growing solar inverters market. Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago releases its Chicago Fed National Activity Index for March at 1230 GMT. The index read 0.44 in the previous month. General Motors Co (GM.N) will add four new plants in the next three years in China to bring its production capacity to 5 million vehicles a year, the head of GM China said on Saturday at the Shanghai auto show. National Association of Realtors (NAR) releases existing home sales for March at 1400 GMT. Economists in a Reuters survey forecast a 5.01 million annualized unit total in March, versus 4.98 million in February. Focus will be on company earnings, with Netflix (NFLX.O) seen reporting a profit after losses a year earlier when it began investing in new markets. Other major companies announcing results include Caterpillar (CAT.N), the world's largest maker of construction and mining, Halliburton (HAL.N), the world's second-largest oilfield services firm and Chipmaker Texas Instruments (TXN.O). European shares were led higher by the Italian blue-chip index on Monday, after sharp falls in the previous week, as investors bought back into the cheap market following signs of political progress there. U.S. stocks rose on Friday as earnings from Google (GOOG.O) and other companies lifted tech shares, but the gains weren't enough to stop the S&P 500 from suffering its worst week since November. The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 10.37 points, or 0.07 percent, to 14,547.51 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX gained 13.64 points, or 0.88 percent, to finish at 1,555.25. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC rose 39.69 points, or 1.25 percent, to close at 3,206.06. Reporting by Atul Prakash; Editing by Toby Chopra