U.S. stock futures pointed lower Monday after investment bank Lehman Brothers reported a quarterly loss and insurance giant AIG replaced its CEO.

Lehman Brothers reported a quarterly net loss of US$2.8 billion, in line with its warning issued last week.

Lehman’s results kicked off a wave of earnings news from Wall Street’s biggest firms. Goldman Sachs Group will post its second-quarter results, and Morgan Stanley will follow suit Wednesday.

American International Group Inc. on Sunday named former Citigroup Inc. executive Robert Willumstad to replace Martin Sullivan at the helm of the world’s largest insurer, effective immediately.

Oil futures were slightly higher Monday as Saudi Arabia said it would boost production by 500,000 barrels a day, according to press reports. Crude futures gained 73¢ to US$135.59 a barrel.

Here at home, sales of new motor vehicles declined for the third consecutive month in April, mainly as a result of lower sales in the western provinces.

Statistics Canada reported that consumers purchased 143,300 new vehicles in April, down 2.6% from March. Sales have levelled off in recent months after an upswing that began in October 2007.

The Canadian dollar opened at US97.41¢, up 0.25 cent from Friday.

In other market news, EnCana Corp. has affirmed “strong potential” in the Horn River natural gas shale play in northeast British Columbia and the Haynesville shale in Louisiana and Texas.

EnCana also presented blue-chip boards of directors for the two companies it announced in May it is splitting itself into.

Overseas, Asian markets ended mostly higher as the weaker yen boosted Japanese exporters and investors hunted for bargains in China, snapping Shanghai’s recent losing streak.

The Shanghai composite gained 5.3% gain. The Tokyo Nikkei index closed with a gain of 2.7% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 1.9%.

In Europe, bourses showed slight losses early in the afternoon, with the UK FTSE 100 index off 0.2%.

On Friday, Toronto stocks rallied back from a five-session losing streak.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 175.87 points, or 1.2%, at 14,778.46 with all of its 10 main sectors higher.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index added 5.14 points, or 0.20%, to end at 2,639.40.

In New York, U.S. stocks closed higher after a government report showed core inflation rose moderately in May.

The Dow Jones industrial average rallied 165.77 points, or 1.37%, to 12,307.35. The S&P 500 gained 20.16 points, or 1.50%, to 1,360.03. The Nasdaq composite index finished up 50.15, or 2.09%, to 2,454.50.

For the week, the Dow rose 0.8%, the S&P 500 fell 0.1% and the Nasdaq declined 0.8%.