Canada's main stock index was set for a lower start on Monday
The S&P/TSX composite index plummeted 199.14 points, or 1.3%, to end Friday and the week at 15,266.40, heading toward a decline of more than 1% for the week. December futures were down 0.4% before Monday’s opening bell.
The Canadian dollar fell 0.27 cents to 90.90 cents U.S. early Monday.
The Harper government has no immediate plans for a shift in mortgage rules, Finance Minister Joe Oliver said Sunday, amid speculation policymakers want banks to take more of the risk in mortgage lending.
The total cost of TransCanada Corp's controversial Keystone XL pipeline is likely to nearly double following six years of regulatory delays, a company spokesman said on Friday.
National Bank Financial raised the target on Algonquin Power & Utilities to $9.50
RBC raised the rating on Enerplus Corp. to outperform from sector perform.
CIBC raised the target price on TransCanada Corporation to $63 from $54
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange collapsed 9.59 points Friday to 956.20.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures were slipping and most stock markets across Europe and Asia were in negative territory.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials moved lower 36 points, or 0.2%, to 17,176. Futures for the S&P 500 fell 6.75 points, or 0.3%, to 1,997, and futures for the NASDAQ ditched 14.25 points, or 0.4%, to 4,078.75.
Market sentiment was buoyed by Alibaba's initial public offering Friday and the U.S. Federal Reserve's indication Thursday that it probably won't raise interest rates anytime soon.
The S&P 500 index is up by nearly 9% this year and the NASDAQ has shot up by nearly 10%. The Dow has advanced by 4.2%.
Hundreds of environmental activists plan to "flood" Wall Street on Monday to protest the role Big Business plays in climate change.
While no specific companies are being targeted, the movement is broadly aimed at "polluters and those profiting from the fossil fuel industry."
Expect Sigma-Aldrich shares to surge when trading begins in New York after Germany's Merck agreed to buy the life sciences group for $17 billion U.S. in cash. The price represents a 37% premium to Friday's close.
It's also worth watching shares in Best Buy at the open. The stock was rising by about 5% pre-market. Analysts at Barclays have reiterated that investors should be "overweight" in the company.
On the other end of the spectrum, shares in FedEx, Texas Instruments and Yahoo were all declining pre-market.
The latest monthly data on existing U.S. home sales will be released Monday at 10 a.m. ET.
Shares in British grocery chain Tesco plunged by about 8.5% in early London trading after the company said it overstated its latest profits by £250 million ($409 million U.S.). The company has brought in independent auditors from Deloitte to review the numbers.
In Germany, shares in Siemens fell nearly 1% after the firm announced it had agreed to buy New York-listed oil equipment company Dresser-Rand for $7.6 billion U.S. in cash.
Asian markets were mostly down Monday.
Oil prices gained 10 cents to $92.51 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices slipped 70 cents to $1,215.90 U.S. an ounce.
