North American stocks appear likely to open mixed Monday, with DaimlerChrysler set to lead auto makers higher after agreeing to sell most of Chrysler to a private-equity fund.

DaimlerChrysler struck a deal to sell Chrysler to Cerberus Capital Management in return for an injection of US$7.45 billion cash, shutting out a bid led by Canada’s Magna International Inc.

In other M&A action, Mylan Laboratories agreed to pay 4.9 billion euros (US$6.6 billion) for the generic-drugs unit of Germany’s Merck, beating out Teva Pharmaceutical in the bidding.

Crude-oil futures rose 59¢ to US$62.96 a barrel.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

The Canadian dollar opened at US90.23¢, up 0.32 of a cent.

Overseas, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.7% in Tokyo, while the FTSE 100 slipped 0.3% in London.

Toronto stocks stormed ahead Friday, setting a new record close and breaking through the 14,000-point barrier for the first time in its history.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 150.69, or 1.09%, to 14,003.82 based largely on strength in the resource sectors and in financials.

The TSX is up 1.7% for the week, and is up 8.5% so far this year.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index moved up 23.37 points, or 0.70%, to 3,345.58.

In New York, markets surged on investor optimism that the U.S. Federal Reserve might drop interest rates later this year.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 111.09 points, or 0.84%, to 13,326.22, the Nasdaq gained 28.48, gained 28.48, to 2,562.22, the S&P 500 moved up 14.38, or 0.96%, to 1,505.85.

For the week, the Dow rose 0.46%, the S&P edged up 0.02% and the Nasdaq fell 0.38%.