North American stocks look poised to open higher Monday, with mergers-and-acquisition activity giving a bump ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates.

The Fed is set announce its decision due Thursday.

Crude-oil futures eased 5¢ to US$70.82 a barrel, and the euro advanced 0.3% on the U.S. dollar.

The Canadian dollar opened at US89.41¢, up 0.41 of a cent.

In M&A activity news, Canadian mining companies Inco Ltd. and Falconbridge Ltd. have reached a US $56 billion deal to merge with Phelps Dodge Corp. of Arizona.

The companies said Monday the union would create the world’s largest nickel producer and largest publicly traded copper producer.

Mittal Steel and Arcelor ended a five-month takeover battle, with Mittal on Sunday agreeing to pay US$34 billion to combine the world’s top two steelmakers.

Phelps Dodge agreed to buy both Inco and Falconbridge in a three-way merger valued at $56 billion.

Johnson & Johnson won the bidding for Pfizer’s consumer-health division, agreeing to pay US$16.6 billion.

In other news, Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett, the world’s second-richest man, plans to give away the bulk of his fortune, more than US$30 billion in Berkshire stock, to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, run by the world’s richest man.


Overseas, European stock markets hovered around the flat line, though metal stocks gained after the Arcelor-Mittal Steel deal.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 28.36 points, or 0.19%, to finish at 15,152.4 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index edged down four points, or 0.03%, to 15,804.81.

Toronto stocks shot up Friday, earning a triple-digit gain, as energy stocks led a broad market advance.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 118.81, or 1.07%, to 11,249.02.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index gained 34.08 points, or 1.33%, to 2,589.93.

In New York, markets ended down as investors were concerned over possible rising interest rates and a slowing U.S. economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 30.02 points to 10,989.09 and the Nasdaq composite index dropped 1.52 point to 2,121.47. The S&P 500 gave up 1.10 point to 1,244.50.

For the week, the Dow lost 0.2%, the S&P 500 fell 0.6% and the Nasdaq lost 0.4% of its strength.