Wall Street stock futures declined on Monday morning as U.S. banks looked to raise capital by selling shares and commodity prices slipped.

Capital One Financial, U.S. Bancorp and BB&T said they are planning stock sales to bolster capital levels and repay funds received from the U.S. Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Here at home, new housing prices in Canada fell 0.5% in March from February and were 2.4% lower than a year earlier for the third straight year-on-year decline, Statistics Canada said on Monday.

The Canadian dollar opened at US86.57¢, down 0.43 of a cent from Friday’s close.

In earnings news, Silver Wheaton Corp. said it recorded lower profits and sales revenue for the first quarter of 2009 despite selling more ounces of silver during the period.

British bank HSBC Holdings said first-quarter profits were “well ahead” of last year, swelled by record results in its investment bank, but would have been down without accounting gains on its debt.

In M&A news, Canadian fertilizer maker Agrium Inc raised its offer for U.S. rival CF Industries on Monday, as CF has spurned Agrium’s initial bid worth about US$3.8 billion.

Agrium is now offering CF shareholders US$40 in cash plus one Agrium share per CF share, which is an increase of US$5 a share, or 14.3%, in the cash consideration.

In commodities news, light sweet crude for June delivery was down US$1.46 to US$57.17 a barrel by noon in European electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 0.2%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.7%.

In afternoon trading, the UK’s FTSE 100 declined 1.1%, Germany’s DAX index fell 1.1%, and France’s CAC-40 declined 1.2%.

On Friday, the Toronto Stock Exchange surged sharply higher on Friday after surprising news that the Canadian economy added 35,900 jobs in April.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 270.94 points, or 2.7%, to finish at 10,237.99 on the promising economic news.

For the week, the benchmark index gained about 8%.

Units of GMP Capital Trust advanced 2.8% on Friday, after it announced first quarter profit of $7.1 million, down 66% from the first quarter of last year, but up 99% from the fourth quarter. GMP units closed at $8.94.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index gained 16.64 points, or 1.6%, to finish the day at 1,069.75.

In New York, the main stock market indices also jumped higher on similarly promising employment news. The U.S. Department of Labour announced that the U.S. economy shed a fewer-than-expected 539,000 jobs in April.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 164.80 points, or 2%, to 8,574.65. For the week, the blue-chip index gained 4.4%.

The S&P 500 index rose 21.84 points, or 2.4%, to 929.23, up 5.9% for the week.

The Nasdaq composite index gained 22.76 points, 1.3%, to 1,739.00, for a weekly gain of 1.2%.

IE