U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower start Friday as traders awaited news on the fate of Lehman Brothers Holdings.

Bank of America and the UK’s Barclays have been named as possible suitors for the troubled Wall Street brokerage house.

Meanwhile, U.S. retail sales fell a second straight month in August.

Retail sales decreased by 0.3%, the U.S. Commerce Department said today. Economists had estimated a 0.2% increase.

In other market news, concern that Hurricane Ike may disrupt oil production in the Gulf of Mexico brought a boost to sagging oil prices.

By midday in Europe, light, sweet crude for October delivery rose US$1.38 to US$102.25 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Here at home, the price for gasoline at stations throughout southern Ontario was up by about 13¢ at to more than $1.36 a litre as refineries in Texas gulf coast region battened down the hatches.

Statistics Canada reported that industries operated at 78.9% of their capacity in the second quarter, down from 79.6% in the first quarter. Capacity utilization fell for a fourth straight quarter as a result of weak exports, StatsCan said.

Separately, StatsCan said that Canada;s net international investment position deteriorated marginally in the second quarter as the Canadian dollar strengthened. This appreciation had the effect of constraining the growth in Canadian assets, while liabilities posted a small advance.

In M&A news, ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc. has agreed to sell its precision components business to a group led by current management of the money-losing division.

The Cambridge, Ont.-based company said it expects to complete the sale in the third quarter. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

The Canadian dollar opened at US93.35¢ Friday, up 0.46 of a cent from Thursday’s close.

Overseas, the UK’s FTSE 100 rose 1.22%, Germany’s DAX index advanced 0.51%, and France’s CAC-40 climbed 0.94%.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 0.93% to 12,214.76. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index edged about 0.2% lower to 19,352.9.

Toronto stocks climbed for a second day Thursday as recently beaten up resources shares rallied.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 115.61 points, or 0.93%, to close at 12,612.76.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index continued its losing streak, falling 32.91 points, or 2.06%, to 1,563,82.

In New York, U.S. stocks rose as a report by the Wall Street Journal that Bank of America is in talks to buy embattled investment bank Lehman Brothers boosted financial shares.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 164.79 points, or 1.46%, to end at 11,433.71. The S&P 500 gained 17.01 points, or 1.38%, to end at 1,249.05. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 29.52 points, or 1.32%, to close at 2,258.22.

IE