North American markets look set to rise at Tuesday’s open after concerns about oil prices sparked a selloff on Monday. Meanwhile, supply worries have pushed oil prices above US$50 a barrel in morning trading.

In an effort to ease supply, concerns Saudi Arabia said it will use new fields to boost output by 1.5 million barrels a day.

On Monday, a barrel of light crude for November delivery settled at US$49.62, up 74¢, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Investors will be looking ahead to a report on U.S. consumer confidence to be released at 10:00 ET.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

In earnings news, Pepsi Bottling Group posted US73¢ a share in its fiscal third quarter on improved volume before the opening bell today, and the company gave a slightly more optimistic outlook for full-year earnings. Analysts expected earnings of US70¢ a share.

Mutual fund manager AGF Management will report quarterly earnings later today. The firm confirmed last weak that it may be facing enforcement action from the Ontario Securities Commission for allegations of market-timing trades.

Overnight in Asia, Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei slipped 43.75 points or 0.4% to 10,815.57. The Nikkei has fallen a total of 480.01 points, or 4.25%, over the past eight trading days.

In Hong Kong, the main Hang Seng Index fell 71.1 points or 0.55% to 12,950.8.

Technology and financial shares pulled down Canadian markets on Monday, while oil prices hit a record high pushing the Dow Jones industrials back below 10,000.

At close, the S&P/TSX was down 90.44 points or 1.05% to 8,497.96, while the TSX Venture exchange was up 2.20 points or 0.14% at 1,556.14.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 58.70 points or 0.58% at 9,988.54 — the Dow’s lowest close since Aug. 17, when it last closed below 10,000.

The Nasdaq composite index was 19.6 points or 1.04% lower at 1,859.88; the S&P 500 declined 6.59 points or 0.49% to 1,103.52.

The Canadian dollar was ahead 0.18 of a cent to US78.60¢ late in the day.

In Toronto, a downgrade of perennial most-active Nortel Networks Corp. sent the stock lower. It fell 20¢ or 4.61% to $4.14 with more than 13 million shares trading hands after New York-based Prudential Equity Group LLC. cut Nortel to “neutral” from “overweight.” Prudential said Nortel “appears to have lost momentum.” Overall, the tech sector fell 1.59%.