North American stock markets appear to be headed for a strong start on Monday on the news that the U.S. bank is considering boosting its stake in Citigroup Inc. to as much as 40% and that oil prices rose.

The Citibank news eased fears among investors, who last week believed the U.S. government was likely to fully take over the fledgling bank. This is likely to result in positive gains in the Dow Jones industrial average after it fell 6.17% last week.

Meanwhile, the news that oil prices rose above US$40 in Asia overnight on expectations that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will cut its production next month will likely have a positive impact on Canada’s senior exchange, Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index, which fell 8.4% last week.

Additionally, investors will also be watching a summit at the White House, where U.S> President Barack Obama is bringing together dozens of advisors and adversaries to discuss how to curb a burgeoning federal deficit laden with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid obligations.

This summit is the first meeting toward developing a strategy to address the U.S.’s long-term fiscal health and comes as President Obama prepares ambitious plans to cut the federal deficit by half within four years.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average recouped some of its losses to end down just 40.22 points, 0.5%, at 7,376.16, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed up 475.93 points, or 3.8%, at 13,175.1.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 10.81 points, or 0.3%, at 3,899.87, while Germany’s DAX rose 42.68 points, or 1.1%, to 4,057.34. The CAC-40 in France was up 34.07 points, or 1.2%, at 2,784.62.

On Friday, the S&P/TSX composite index plummeted 235.36 points, or 2.9%, to close at 7,949.99.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index shed 9.2 points, or 1%, to close at 892.9.

The Canadian dollar gained US0.63¢ against the greenback to end the week at US80.04¢.

U.S. stock markets continued to suffer, as the Dow Jones industrial average fell to a low not seen since October 2002. The blue-chip average fell 100.28 points, or 1.3%, to end at 7,365.67. For the week, it lost 6.2%, marking its worst week since October 2008.

The S&P 500 composite index shed 8.89 points, or 1.1%, to close at 770.05, off 6.9% for the week.

The Nasdaq composite index dropped 1.59 points, or 0.1%, to end at 1,441.23, giving it a weekly loss of 6.1%.