Wall Street stock futures pointed to a higher open Monday following Friday’s positive U.S. home sales data and upbeat comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

Here at home, Canadian investors were waiting for Bank of Monteal to kick off third-quarter bank earning’s season on Tuesday.

The Canadian dollar was ahead 0.33 of a cent to US92.76¢ on Monday morning.

In corporate news, the German government is supporting a sale of the unit to a group led by Canadian auto parts giant Magna International Inc.

In commodities news, the October crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange was up US$1.02 to US$74.91 a barrel. The December bullion contract rose US$3.20 to US$957.90 an ounce.

Overseas, Asian stock markets jumped following Friday’s upbeat comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and signs that the American housing industry was stabilizing.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average gained 342.85 points, or 3.4%, to 10,581.05. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.7% to 20,535.94.

In Europe, the UK’s FTSE 100 rose 0.9%, Germany’s DAX gained 0.8% and France’s CAC-40 edged up 0.7%.

On Friday, Toronto’s main stock index was led by commodity-related issues, after upbeat U.S. home sales data and comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke sparked optimism about an economic recovery.

The S&P/TSX composite index rallied 130.67 points, or 1.22%, to end at 10,831.18. For the week, the benchmark index ended the week down 0.2%.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index gained 7.56 points, or 0.64%, to end at 1,191.95.

In New York, U.S. stocks ended the week at 2009 highs on Friday after a surprising rise in home sales and the optimistic comments from Bernanke.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 155.91 points, or 1.67%, to end at 9,505.96. The S&P 500 climbed 18.76 points, or 1.86%, to 1,026.13. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 31.68 points, or 1.59%, to 2,020.90.

For the week, the Dow rose 2%, the S&P 500 gained 2.2% and the Nasdaq climbed 1.8%.

IE