U.S. stock futures climbed Tuesday, buoyed by news that global banking giant Citigroup Inc. was getting a cash infusion from the Middle East.

Citigroup said it has received a US$7.5 billion capital infusion from Abu Dhabi’s investment arm, which will become one of Citigroup’s largest shareholders.

In economic news, a report on U.S. consumer confidence for November is due later this morning.

Here at home, Statistics Canada reported that growth in labour productivity eased in all provinces in 2006, except for the four Atlantic provinces.

For a second straight year, Manitoba and Alberta recorded the strongest gains in productivity among the provinces, although in each case the gains were significantly slower than in 2005, StatsCan said.

The Canadian dollar opened at US$1.0082 this morning, down five one-hundredths from Monday’s close.

In M&A news, Great-West Lifeco Inc. announced late Monday that it is selling its U.S. health-care business to Cigna Corp. in a deal valued at US$2.25 billion. The sale is part of a strategy to focus more on the financial services sector.

In earnings news, Staples reported a 5% drop in fiscal third-quarter net income, as settlement of a class-action litigation and a weak U.S. retail environment dug into earnings.

In other news, Canadian Natural Resources has cut its Canadian conventional crude oil and natural gas capital budget by one-third to $1.7 billion for 2008, citing the impact of higher Alberta royalties on energy production.

Crude-oil futures fell $1.30 to US$96.38 a barrel as an OPEC meeting neared.

Overseas, the Nikkei 225 recovered from a early swoon to finish with a 0.6% rise in Tokyo, while the FTSE 100 slipped 0.8% in London. Business confidence gauges in Germany and France unexpectedly rose.

North American stocks sank Monday, as investors remained pessimistic about the ongoing global credit crunch and the rising likelihood of an economic slowdown in the United States.

In Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite index gave up 146.15, or 1.09%, to 13,321.05.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite fell 69.71 points, or 2.45%, to 2,777.00.

In New York, markets headed lower as investors took in continuing bad news from U.S. financial services companies touched by the effects of the subprime mortgage meltdown.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 237.44 points, or 1.83%, to 12,743.44, the Nasdaq composite index sank 55.61, or 2.14%, to 2,540.99, and the S&P500 index gave up 33.48, or 2.32%, to 1,407.22.