Still up on the U.S. economic front, the Federal Housing Finance Agency's March home price index is to be released at 9 a.m.

WSJ: U.S. Futures Join Global Slide

The July U.S. retail sales and Producer Price Index reports are due out at 8:30 a.m.

FORBES: Comex Gold Steady To Slightly Higher Ahead Of U.S. Retail Sales, PPI

Here I'm going to focus on -- it's measured using the GDP price index.

WHITEHOUSE: Detailing the FY2011 Budget

Giving a big boost to stocks was the release at 10:00 a.m. of the ISM Manufacturing Survey, showing a second straight month of expansion, with index of factory activity rising to 51.7 in October, up from up from 51.5 in September.

FORBES: Stocks Shoot Higher As Data Reinforce Recovery Strength

The December dollar index was up 0.091 point at 79.15 as of 12:02 p.m.

FORBES: Gold Traders Eye U.S. Dollar, Technicals As Consolidation Continues