Wall Street stock futures pointed higher Monday ahead of readings on the U.S. housing and construction industries.

Today’s U.S. economics calendar includes the release of the National Association of Realtors’pending home sales index for March and the U.S. Commerce Department’s report on construction spending for that month.

In M&A news, Italian automaker Fiat confirmed Sunday it is in talks to buy most of General Motors European operations. Fiat is in the process of acquiring Chrysler LLC.

Here at home, the Canadian dollar opened at US84.05¢, down 0.27 of a cent from Friday’s close.

In today’s earnings news, Boralex Power Income Fund reported a lower first quarter profit, stemming from less favourable hydrology nd difficulties with the wood-residue supply.

The fund’s net earnings amounted to $9.9 million, or 17¢ per trust unit, for the three-month period ended March 31, compared to net earnings of $15.2 million, or 26¢ per unit, for the same period in 2008.

In commodities news, light, sweet crude fell 11¢ to US$53.09 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Overseas, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index led rallies throughout the region with a 5.5% jump.

In late morning trading, Germany’s DAX rose 1.4% and France’s CAC-40 gained 0.1%.

Markets in Japan and London are closed for holidays.

Stocks extended their rally into May sending the benchmark index of the Toronto Stock Exchange sharply higher on Friday.

The S&P/TSX composite index moved ahead 172.13 points to 9,496.96,

For the week, the index closed down 52.52 points.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index added 1.19 points, or 0.122%, to finish at 1,010.17.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 44.29 points, or 0.54%, to 8,212.41 points. The S&P 500 rose 4.71 points, or 0.54%, to 877.52. The Nasdaq composite index edged up 1.90 points, or 0.11%, to 1,719.20 points.

For the week, the Dow rose 1.7%, the S&P gained 1.3% and the Nasdaq ended up 1.5%.

IE