North American stocks are likely to open mixed on Monday after last week’s steep losses led by turmoil in the technology and financial sectors.

U.S. Bond markets are closed for the Veterans Day holiday.

In today’s M&A news, International Business Machines said it will acquire Canadian business-software maker Cognos for nearly US$5 billion.

The deal values Cognos shares at US$58 each, a 9.5% premium to Friday’s closing price.

BHP Billiton estimated US$3.7 billion in annual savings if it combines with Rio Tinto and said it would buy back US$30 billion in shares if a deal is completed.

In banking news, Citigroup, Bank of America and J.P. Morgan have after nearly two months of talks agreed on how to structure a US$75 billion fund to invest in troubled structure investment vehicles, according to a report in the New York Times.

The Canadian dollar continued to retreat Monday from the record highs that it reached last week against the U.S. dollar.

In morning trading on foreign exchange markets, the loonie was down 1.82 cents at US$1.0425.

There are no major economic data reports from Statistics Canada today.

In overseas markets, Asian shares fell sharply, with the Nikkei 225 tumbling 2.5% after Wall Street weakness and the dollar’s fall against the yen.

European stocks also were weaker, but European banks advanced, with some of the hardest hit from subprime turmoil, such as Barclays, UBS and the Royal Bank of Scotland, gaining during the session.

Toronto stocks fell sharply in a broad-based selloff Friday as the fallout from U.S. credit losses continued to roil markets.

The S&P/TSX composite index plunged 258.77 points, or 1.83%, to end at 13,869.82.

For the week, the benchmark index was down 3.4%.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index shed 20.32 points, or 0.66%, to 3,048.54.

In New York, stocks fell for a third day on Friday. The Dow Jones industrial average finished down 223.55 points, or 1.69%, at 13,042.74. The S&P was down 21.07 points, or 1.43%, at 1,453.70. The Nasdaq composite index was down 68.06 points, or 2.52%, at 2,627.94.

For the week, the Nasdaq lost 6.5%, the Dow dropped 4.1% and the S&P 500 declined 3.7%.