North American markets are expected to climb Monday, amid some bargain hunting after a selloff Friday triggered by the weaker-than-expected jobs reports from Canada and the United States.

As well, oil prices are providing some good news to investors today as U.S. crude oil futures were at US$44.14 a barrel, down from Friday’s 21-year record of US$44.77.

However, investors may be reluctant to take big bets ahead of the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates on Tuesday.

The value of building permits issued by municipalities surged a blistering 27.1% in June to $5.3 billion, Statistics Canada said today.

The June increase, which follows an 8.2% decline in May, forges a new monthly record and breaching the $5 billion threshold for the first time.

StatsCan said builders took out a record $3.4 billion in housing permits in June, up 24.2% from the previous month. A renewed flurry of demand for multi-family dwelling permits led the residential sector to post a new record and break the $3 billion mark for the second time.

In this morning’s business news, CP Ships has restated its profits downward for the last two years and for the 2004 first quarter by up to US$40 million as the company implements a new accounting system. The former Canadian Pacific Ltd. subsidiary said Monday the moves reflect a new accounting system the transport company began using in January.

Asian stock markets closed lower overnight following last week’s losses in New York.

Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 63.87 points, or 0.58%, to 10,908.7. Stocks dropped right from the start of trade as investors sold broadly in response to U.S. stock declines and rising oil prices.

In Hong Kong, the main Hang Seng Index slipped 11.27 points, or 0.09%, to 12,467.41.

On Friday disappointing jobs reports for Canada and the U.S. sparked a sharp sell-off of North American markets, already suffering from a dose of record-setting oil prices.

At the close, Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index pulled back slightly from a 100-point loss to finish the day down 91.2 points, or 1.10%, to 8,176.68, erasing all gains for the year. The junior TSX Venture composite index closed 2.21 points, or 0.15% lower, to 1496.82.

On Wall Street, the Dow industrial average fell 147.7 points, or 1.48%, to 9,815.33 — a new low for 2004. The Nasdaq composite index was off 44.74 points or 2.46% to 1,776.89, while the S&P 500 lost 16.73 points, or 1.55%, to 1,063.97.

Statistics Canada reported the unemployment rate dropped a tenth of a point to 7.2% for July. But there was a net gain of roughly 9,000 jobs, from June, a far cry from the 30,000 that had been expected.

In the U.S., only 32,000 jobs in July — more than 200,000 less than expected – as the unemployment rate dipped a tenth of a point to 5.5%. On top of that, job gains for the past two months were revised downward.