North American stocks appear set for a strong start to the second quarter amid deal news from Lucent Technologies, General Motors and Vincor, positive economic data and strong overseas markets.

Vincor International has accepted a $1.52-billion all-cash takeover offer from U.S. liquor giant Constellation Brands.

Constellation will pay $36.50 a share for Vincor stock. That’s a 15.9% premium to Vincor’s closing price of $31.50 last Friday.

The boards of both companies have recommended the deal’s acceptance.

GM announced this morning that it is selling a 51% majority stake in General Motors Acceptance Corp, or GMAC, to investors led by Cerberus Capital Management for about US$14 billion.

Over the weekend, Alcatel and Lucent signed a merger pact to form a Paris-based telecom-equipment titan let by an American, Lucent Chief Executive Patricia Russo. The yet-to-be-named entity is expected to shed 10% of its combined work force of 88,000 and to save US$1.7 billion a year.

Sears Holdings Corp. has sweetened its bid to take Sears Canada private, raising its offer to $18 a share from $16.86.

The Canadian dollar opened at US85.18¢ down 0.44 of a cent.

Later this morning, March’s ISM poll of the U.S. manufacturing sector is expected to grow to 57.3% from 56.7% last month. Construction spending and March auto sales figures also will be unveiled.

Overseas, Japanese stocks rallied as the Nikkei 225 climbed 1.6% after data suggested that rate increases there would be pushed back.

European markets also were higher, with Alcatel rallying close to 6% in Paris.

On Friday, Toronto stocks slipped as the price of oil retreated from highs reached earlier in the week.

The S&P TSX composite index finished down 96.34 points, or 0.79%, at 12,110.61.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index gained 13.48 points, or 0.46%, to finish the week at 2,912.98.

U.S. stocks fell as the drop in crude oil prices weighed on energy shares, offsetting data showing tame U.S. inflation.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 40.58 points, or 0.36%, to end unofficially at 11,110.12. The S&P 500 was down 5.22 points, or 0.40%, at 1,295.03. The Nasdaq composite index was down 0.73 of a point, or 0.03%, at 2,340.09.

For the week, the Dow finished down 1.51%, while the S&P 500 dipped 0.62%. Only the Nasdaq ended the week higher, gaining 1.17%.

For the first quarter of 2006, the TSX outperformed U.S. markets. The 7.4% return of the TSX doubled the 3.7% rise in the Dow and beat the Nasdaq’s 6.1% return.