Wall Street stock futures declined on Monday, suggesting markets would turn lower in early trading, as commodities prices retreated slightly.

Light, sweet crude for July delivery was down 85¢ to fetch US$67.59 a barrel by noon in European electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Here at home, the Canadian dollar opened at US88.82¢, down 0.45 of a cent from Friday’s close.

In today’s economic news, Canada’s seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts increased to 128,400 units in May from 117,600 units in April, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. said Monday.

In U.S. banking news, the deadline for federal regulators to approve capital-raising plans at nine of the largest U.S. banks is Monday. The Federal Reserve is expected to permit Goldman Sachs Group, J.P. Morgan Chase and possibly a few others to repay government bailout funds.

Investors will be focusing on Apple Inc. to see whether Steve Jobs will make an appearance at the company’s developers conference later today.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 1% while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index slipped 2.3%.

In Europe, the UK’s FTSE 100 fell 1.4%, Germany’s DAX index declined 1.7%, and France’s CAC-40 dropped 1.7%.

The Toronto Stock Exchange continued to climb higher on Friday despite news that the Canadian unemployment rate surged to an 11-year high of 8.4% in May.

The S&P/TSX composite index rose 92.05 points, or 0.9%, to finish at 10,569.29. For the week, the benchmark index added about 2%.

Earlier on Friday, Statistics Canada reported that 42,000 jobs were lost in the month of May. The decline in employment, which was roughly in line with expectations, failed to rattle investors.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index edged up 4.83 points, or 0.4%, to close at 1,137.99.

The Canadian dollar dropped sharply on Friday’s employment news, shedding almost two cents to close at US89.37¢.

In New York, U.S. stocks finished with mixed results on Friday as investors digested news that the U.S. economy shed 345,000 jobs in the month of May.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 12.89 points, or 0.2%, to end at 8,763.13. For the week, the blue-chip index added 3.1%.

The S&P 500 index fell 2.37 points, or 0.3%, to 940.09, leaving it ahead 2.3% from the week-ago close.

The Nasdaq composite index ended the day flat at 1,849.42, up 4.2% from last Friday’s close.

IE