U.S. stock futures slumped Monday, weighed down by the prospect of bankruptcy for General Motors and Chrysler.

The two automakers are the center of attention Monday after U.S. government officials said that a structured bankruptcy plan for GM and Chrysler could give them their “best chance at success.” In addition, the administration’s auto team asked GM CEO Rick Wagoner to step down.

There are reports that the U.S. government plans to give General Motors enough aid to restructure over the next 60 days. Chrysler will get up to US$6 billion and 30 days to complete an alliance with Italian automaker Fiat.

U.S. President Obama is expected to make an official announcement on the restructuring plan for the auto industry at 11:00 ET Monday.

Here at home, the Canadian dollar opened at US80.11¢, down 0.70 of a cent from Friday’s close.

In commodities news, gold futures held virtually steady, at US$923.30 an ounce.

Benchmark crude for May delivery fell US$1.86 to US$50.52 by mid-afternoon in Asian electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Oversea, Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average sank 390.89 points, or 4.5%, to 8,236.08, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slid 663.17, or 4.7%, to 13,456.33.

As European trading got underway, Germany’s DAX was down 3.7%, Britain’s FTSE 100 shed 2.5% and France’s CAC 40 lost 3%.

On Friday, the Toronto Stock Exchange experienced broad-based declines, causing the benchmark index to give back nearly all of Thursday’s 2% gain.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 174.44 points, or 1.9%, to close at 8,821.06. For the week, the benchmark index advanced roughly 3.8%.

A late day drop for the S&P/TSX Venture composite index put it down 13 points, or 1.3%, to close at 961.02.

South of the border, the main stock market indexes also finished lower on Friday, but finished the week with hefty gains.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 148.38 points, or 1.87%, to 7,776.18. Still, the blue-chip average surged 6.8% on the week.

The S&P 500 index fell 16.92, or 2.03%, to 815.94, and gained 6.2% on the week.

The Nasdaq composite retreated 41.8 points, or 2.63%, to 1,545.2, to finish the week up 6%.

IE