Toronto's main stock index looked set to open higher on Monday ahead of U.S. housing data that could offer more evidence of a rebound in the economy of Canada's biggest trade partner.
Elsewhere, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said on Sunday that the structure of Glencore's $6.1-billion deal to buy grain handler Viterra means it should not necessarily be seen as a full foreign takeover.
SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. is going to be back in focus after the engineering firm's chief executive officer resigned over allegations that he allowed unauthorized payments totalling $56 million.
The company's share price took a beating recently when it pre-announced disappointing earnings and said that it was investigating payments, largely associated with the company's business interests in Libya.
ON BAYSTREET
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 103.85 points Friday to 12,465.66
The TSX Venture Exchange closed Friday higher by 14.85 points to 1,555.60, while the Nasdaq Canada index inched up 0.12 to 410.87
The Canadian dollar regained 0.42 cents this morning to 100.63 cents U.S.
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. indexes were projected higher with slightly less than half an hour before markets open, suggesting that stocks will rise at the start trading. Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average were up 86 points or 0.7% to 13,118.
The blue-chip index fell last week during a three-day slide over concerns about economic growth in China, before recovering some lost ground at the end of the week. The broader S&P 500 rose 8.90 points, or 0.6%, to 1,403. The tech-rich Nasdaq index jumped 18.50 points, or 0.7%, to 2,747.25
In Europe, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 fell 0.2% but Germany's DAX index rose 0.7% in afternoon trading.
The backdrop there wasn't entirely positive: While German business confidence topped expectations, reports on manufacturing activity last week pointed to a recession in the euro-zone.
Moreover, Italy's prime minister is sounding the warning that Spain's deficit impasse could trigger a new round of fretting over the sovereign-debt crisis, which has gone eerily quiet since Greece's bailout.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.1% in overnight trading. Meanwhile, crude oil fell to $106.63 U.S. a barrel, down 0.2%. Gold fell to $1,661 U.S. an ounce, down 0.1%.
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