U.S. stock futures were mixed Monday ahead of figures on December factory orders due to be released later this morning.

President George Bush’s 2009 federal budget is slated for release this morning.

In M&A news, Microsoft’s move for Yahoo will remain in focus following a report in The Wall Street Journal that Google CEO Eric Schmidt called Yahoo’s CEO Jerry Yang to offer his company’s help in any effort to thwart the unsolicited offer.

Bank of Nova Scotia announced Monday that the bank is expanding its operations in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic through an agreement reached with Grupo Altas Cumbres (GAC) of Chile.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

The Canadian dollar opened at US100.12¢, down 0.48 of a cent from Friday’s close.

Crude-oil prices were slightly lower, with the March-dated light crude contract down 34¢ at US$88.62 a barrel in electronic trading.

In earnings news, News Corp. and Yum brands are among companies due to report earnings today.

Overseas, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jumped 3.8% to 25,032.08, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 2.7% to close at 13,859.70.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX index climbed 0.9% and the Paris CAC 40 was up 0.3%.

London’s FTSE 100 edged up 0.1%.

Toronto stocks made steady gains Friday, getting a lift from energy issues.

The S&P/TSX Composite index closed up 163.27 points, or 1.24%, at 13,318.37.

For the week the index was up more than 3%.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index closed up 11.61 points, or 0.45%, at 2,576.30.

In New York, markets bounced around a bit, but managed to close higher. Negative employment news from the labour department was balanced by
Microsoft’s US$45 billion offer to buy Yahoo.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 92.83 points, or 0.73%, to 12,743.19.

The S&P 500 added 16.87 points, or 1.22%, to 1,395.42.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq was lifted by the Microsoft news to close up 23.50 points, or 0.98%, at 2,413.36.

For the week, the Dow and the S&P 500 notched their best weekly advance in almost five years, gaining 4.4% and 4.9%, respectively.

The Nasdaq had its best weekly jump in nearly 18 months, finishing up 3.8%.