North American markets are likely to open mixed Monday as oil prices hover near US$60 a barrel and Canadian investors prepare for a possible interest rate hike this week.

On Tuesday, the Bank of Canada is widely expected to boost its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point when it makes a scheduled announcement on rates.

Oil prices rose 64¢ to US$59.96 a barrel in early trading Monday amid reports that a snowstorm would hit the U.S. Northeast and boost demand for crude oil and natural gas.

In economic news, the ISM services index is due at 10:00 ET. The measure of activity in the U.S. services sector is expected to decline to 59.2 in November from 60.0 in October.

The Canadian dollar opened at US86.26¢, up 0.13 of a cent.

On Friday, the loonie rose 0.27 of a U.S. cent after a positive Canadian jobs report.

In today’s business news, the U.S. parent company of Sears Canada Inc. proposed to buy the 46.2% of the company that it does not already own. It’s offering $835.4 million for the shares.

The deal would give shareholders $16.86 per share in cash, plus the $18.64 per share distribution that was announced last Friday.

Sears Holdings Corp. said the offer represents an 8.7% premium on the Friday closing price of Sears Canada’s common shares.

Gold miner Goldcorp Inc. said Monday it will buy Virginia Gold Mines Inc. in an all-stock deal that values the Quebec-based miner at about $505 million. Through the deal, Goldcorp will acquire the Eleonore gold project in James Bay, northern Quebec.

Overseas, the U.K. FTSE 100 was lower recently, as rivals to NTL fell after the cable operator said it may buy Richard Branson-owned Virgin Mobile for $1.4 billion.

Overnight, the Nikkei 225 closed 0.8% higher in Tokyo at 15,551.31.

On Friday, Toronto stocks managed to eke out a slight gain on with financial shares joining a rally in energy stocks.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up just 5.6 points, or 0.05%, at 11,005.24, following a 175-point gain on Thursday.

Statistics Canada reported that the jobless rate fell to 6.4% in November from 6.6% in October, aided by strong job creation in the construction sector.

BCE Inc. announced plans to sell off a huge chunk of its media division – Bell Globemedia – to Torstar Corp. and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.

Once the proposed deal is done, BCE’s stake in the media company will have dropped from 68.5% to just 20%.

Shares of BCE and Torstar both lost ground in the wake of the announcement. BCE was off 37¢ at $27.90, while Torstar was off 17ç at $22.32.

U.S. billionaire financier Carl Icahn launched a bid for majority control of Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, but Fairmont said it would oppose it.

Fairmont shares were up $1.83 to close at $47.05.

The TSX Venture composite finished up 16.51 points, or 0.80%, at 2,088.90.

The Dow Jones industrial average finished down 35.06 points, or 0.32%, at 10,877.51. The S&P 500 was up 0.41 point, or 0.03%, at 1,265.08. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index was up 6.20 points, or 0.27%, at 2,273.37.

For the week, the Dow ended down 0.5%, the S&P ended off 0.25% and Nasdaq closed up 0.46%.