Global indicators for stocks are mixed Monday following Friday’s weak U.S. jobs report.

Recession fears mushroomed and stocks took a hit Friday after news that the U.S. economy lost 63,000 jobs in February, the largest drop since March 2003.

Here at home, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. reported that the seasonally adjusted annual rate of housing starts climbed to 256,900 units in February, up from 222,700 units in January, boosted by the significant rise in multiple-family starts.

The Canadian dollar opened at US101.33¢, up 0.28 cents from Friday’s close.

Bond insurers remain in the spotlight, after Fitch Ratings dropped its financial sector ratings coverage of bond insurer MBIA late Friday, following criticism by the company over its analysis and fees.

Countrywide Financial shares could come under pressure, after The Wall Street Journal reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing the subprime-mortgage lender for possible securities fraud.

On the U.S. economic calendar, data on wholesale inventories for January is due for release at 10:00 ET Eastern.

In today’s earnings news, quarterly results for Texas Instruments and Hovnanian Enterprises are due after the close.

In today’s M&A news, Nationwide Financial Services announced it received an offer from its controlling shareholder to buy the publicly held Class A shares of the insurance and financial-services provider for US$2.2 billion.

Crude-oil futures fell 10¢ to US$105.05 a barrel, while gold futures rose US$4.40 to US$978.60 an ounce.

Overseas, international markets were weaker. In Asia, indexes fell on U.S. recession fears. European shares also slid.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 2% to end at 12532.13, after a 6% drop last week.

In Europe, the German DAX 30 fell 0.4% to 6485.70, the French CAC 40 weakened 0.4% to 4597.83 and the UK FTSE 100 fell 0.4% to 5677.90.

Toronto markets rallied Friday afternoon, erasing some of the session’s earlier losses, but energy and resources issues remained a drag on the TSX benchmark index.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 78.72 points, or 0.59%, at 13,281.72.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index fell 41.72 points, or 1.51%, to end the session at 2,728.46.

In New York, grim jobs data kept markets down as fears of recession were exacerbated.

The Dow fell well below the symbolic 12,000 mark, closing down 146.70 points, or 1.22%, at 11,893.69.

The S&P 500 closed down 10.97 points, or 0.84%, at 1,293.37.

Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed down 8.01 points, or 0.36%, at 2,212.49.

For the week, the Dow finished down 3.04%, the S&P 500 dropped 2.8%, and the Nasdaq fell 2.6%.