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EBay said on Monday it offered GSI shareholders $29.25 per share, a 50.9 percent premium over its closing price on Friday. Shares rose by the same amount in Monday's Nasdaq trading. EBay

shares were down 3 percent.

GSI owns Web businesses such as Rue La La, which offers one-day-only deals to its members, and ShopRunner, a members-only online shopping service that offers free shipping. GSI also provides technology, payment processing and customer care services for e-commerce sites.

In a statement, EBay Chief Executive John Donahoe said the deal would help the company connect more buyers and sellers.

EBay said the acquisition, expected to close in the third quarter of 2011, would have little effect on its fiscal 2011 adjusted earnings forecast, and would add to 2012 earnings. EBay said the deal would hurt 2011 net income by 30 cents to 34 cents per share.

As part of the deal, EBay will sell off GSI's licensed sports merchandise business and 70 percent of ShopRunner and Rue La La, which will all become part of a new holding company run by GSI's founder and Chief Executive Michael Rubin.

EBay will lend Rubin's new company $467 million. Including the loan, eBay said the deal was worth $2.4 billion.

EBay said those business were not important to its long term growth strategy but it will keep a 30 percent stake in both Rue La La and Shop Runner.

GSI has until May 6 to solicit bids from other parties during the so-called "go shop" period.

EBay has pointed to its PayPal payments processing unit as its prime growth driver in recent years.

But it is also trying to spark growth at its more familiar marketplaces unit, a high-margin business that connects online buyers and sellers.

(Reporting by Phil Wahba; Editing by Derek Caney)

The Commerce Department said spending rose 0.7 percent after an upwardly revised 0.3 percent gain in January.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity, to advance 0.6 percent in February after a previously reported 0.2 percent rise.

Spending adjusted for inflation increased 0.3 percent last month after being flat the prior month. After increasing at its fastest clip in four years in the final three months of 2010, consumer spending is expected to slow in the first quarter, with rising energy and food prices stealing from spending on other goods and services.

Spending grew at a 4.0 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, helping to lift overall economic growth to a 3.1 percent pace during the quarter from 2.6 percent in the July-September period.

High food and energy prices pushed up overall inflation last month. The Commerce Department said the personal consumption expenditures price (PCE) index rose 0.4 percent, the fastest since June 2009, after gaining 0.3 percent in January

The Federal Reserve's preferred measure of consumer inflation -- the core PCE index excluding food and energy -- increased 0.2 percent after rising by the same margin in January. In the 12 months through January, the core PCE index rose 0.9 percent, the fastest rise in four months, after rising 0.8 percent in January.

The Federal Reserve so far views the high food and energy prices as transitory, but Chairman Ben Bernanke said he would act to ensure an inflationary psychology does not take root.

Incomes rose 0.3 percent last month after rising 1.2 percent in January. That compared with economists' expectations for a 0.4 percent gain.

With consumption outpacing the growth in incomes, savings fell to $676.7 billion from $710.5 billion in January. (Reporting by Lucia Mutikani, Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Reports of soaring radiation levels at a damaged nuclear plant in Japan renewed worries over the country's reactors after an earthquake and tsunami, though Nikkei futures began to recover.

In the Middle East and North Africa, violence spread as rebels in Libya pushed west over the weekend to retake a series of towns from the forces of Muammar Gaddafi. In Syria, President Bashar al-Assad deployed the army in the country's main port of Latakia for the first time after nearly two weeks of protests spread across the country.

The issues surrounding Japan's nuclear disaster and civil unrest have pressured markets in recent weeks, and while much of those losses have been recouped, the volume of trade has been limited as investors continue to watch headlines closely for trading cues.

"Those issues are still lingering with the market, though I don't think as much attention is being paid as two weeks ago," said Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Banyan Partners LLC in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. "There's more confidence now that we've recovered from the drop we saw on the news."

Market participants are also looking ahead to February personal income and consumption data, due at 8:30 a.m.. Income is seen rising 0.4 percent while consumption is seen rising 0.6 percent.

S&P 500 futures rose 2.8 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures added 21 points and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 8 points.

Robert W. Baird upgraded a number of telecom companies to "outperform," including Dow components AT&T Inc (T.N) and Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N), saying AT&T's deal to buy T-Mobile would help stabilize the hyper-competitive industry.

U.S.-listed shares of Nokia Corp (NOK.N) rose 3.2 percent to $8.62 in premarket trading as Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to "buy," citing the handset maker's long-term growth potential.

Eastman Kodak Co (EK.N) surged 19 percent to $4.05 in premarket trading after a U.S. trade panel agreed to review the company's claim that Research in Motion Ltd (RIM.TO)(RIMM.O) and Apple Inc (AAPL.O) are infringing on Kodak's patents.

U.S. pending home sales for February, due from the National Association of Realtors at 10 a.m., are seen falling by 1 percent after a string of weaker-than-expected data for the battered housing sector.

A strong forecast from Oracle Corp (ORCL.O) lifted Wall Street to a third straight day of gains on Friday, giving the S&P its best weekly performance since early February, but volume remained light.

(Editing by Padraic Cassidy)