U.S. stock futures pointed higher Tuesday morning as investors returned from the long Labour Day weekend amid a drop in crude-oil prices.

Hurricane Gustav struck the U.S. Gulf Coast Monday with less fury than feared and appeared to cause less damage than had been expected. The storm largely spared New Orleans and the Gulf’s offshore oil and natural-gas infrastructure, causing oil prices to tumble. Light, sweet crude for October delivery dropped as low as US$105.46 in early trading. It was recently trading around US$108 a barrel.

Gold was down US$26.10 to US$809.10 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

The Canadian dollar lost 0.54 of cent to US93.62 cents. The Bank of Canada is scheduled to makes its next interest rate announcement on Wednesday.

There are suggestions that the central bank could well opt for a quarter-point cut in its key interest rate to 2.75% after economic data released Friday showed the Canadian economy barely keeping its head above water during the second quarter.

South of the border, the U.S. Institute for Supply Management will deliver its latest index of manufacturing activity at 10:00 ET.

In today’s corporate news, Google Inc. said it is releasing its own Internet browser to counter Microsoft Corp.’s Internet Explorer.

The Wall Street Journalreported that Korean investors are closer to buying a stake in U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei index fell 1.75%, but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.7%.

In London the FTSE 100 index was up just one point at 5,603.8 early in the afternoon in London, as the British Labour government presented new tax cuts and spending initiatives to support a housing market which has slumped by more than 10% in the past year.

The German DAX advanced 1.4% and the Paris CAC 40 gained 1.2%.

Strength in the energy sector lifted the benchmark index of the Toronto Stock Exchange to a small gain Friday.

The S&P/TSX composite index edged up 20.77 points, or 0.15%, to 13,771.25.

For the week the index gained 2.4%.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index rose 19.79 points, or 1.01%, to 1,983.64.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 171.47 points, or 1.46%, at 11,543.71. The S&P 500 was down 17.93 points, or 1.38%, at 1,282.75. The Nasdaq composite index fell 44.12 points, or 1.83%, to 2,367.52.

For the month, though, the Dow added 1.5%, while the S&P rose 1.3% and the Nasdaq gained 1.8%.