Concern over oil prices is expected to weigh on North American stocks at Monday’s open.

Crude oil futures fell but held above US$53 US a barrel Monday as fears of tropical storm Arlene causing supply disruptions waned and traders looked ahead to this week’s OPEC meeting.

Light sweet crude for July fell 13¢ to US$53.41 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

There are no major economic releases from Canada or the United States today.

In business news, Sears Canada Inc. is putting its credit and financial services division up for sale to focus more on merchandising.

Morgan Stanley said that CEO Phil Purcell agreed to retire. For the last 2 ½ months, a group of former Morgan executives have pushed for his resignation. The board is expected to announce interim leadership later this morning.

In international banking news, Germany’s HVB Group has accepted an US$18.7 billion takeover bid from Unicredito SpA of Italy, opening the way for Europe’s biggest ever cross-border banking deal and the creation of a dominant player in the former communist east.

Toronto stocks finished in the black Friday, powered once again by a strong energy sector, but ultimately weighed down by a significant drop in the price of telecom giant Nortel Networks. The S&P/TSX composite index rose 26.65 points, or 0.27%, to finish at 9,790.09.

On the week, the index gained 1.23%.

The junior S&P/TSX venture exchange closed up 5.51 points, or 0.33%, to finish 1,664.76.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 9.61, or 0.09%, to finish at 10,512.63. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 13.91, or 0.67%, to 2,063.00, while the broad based S&P 500 fell 2.82, or 0.23%, to close at 1,198.11.

For the week, the Dow edged up 0.50%, the S&P rose 0.18% and Nasdaq dipped 0.41%.