U.S. stock futures moved higher Monday after the U.S. government announced a bailout of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the weekend.

A rise in oil prices as Hurricane Ike threatened to roll across Cuba and into the Gulf of Mexico was likely to support energy-heavy Toronto Stock Exchange.

Light, sweet crude for October delivery rose US$1.05 to US$107.28 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Canadian investors will also be digesting the news that voters will be going to the polls for a federal election on October 14.

In today’s economic news, the value of building permits increased 1.8% to $6.4 billion in July, after declining 5.3% in June, Statistics Canada reported.

July’s increase was mainly the result of multi-family dwelling permits in Central Canada and industrial construction intentions in Saskatchewan, StatsCan said.

The Canadian dollar opened at US94.06¢, up 0.01 of a cent from Friday’s close.

Overseas, world markets cheered the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Germany’s DAX jumped 3.45% to 6,338.89 and France’s CAC 40 climbed 4.83% to 4,399.55.

Trading on the London Stock Exchange was halted in the morning because of a computer fault but the UK’s FTSE 100 had risen 3.81% to 5,440.20 shortly after 9:00 a.m. local time and remained at that level midmorning.

In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index surged 3.4% to 12,624.46, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index advanced 4.3% to 20,794.27.

On Friday, Toronto stocks ended a three-day losing streak as gains by resource and consumer issues offset worries over the outlook for the global economy.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 2.28 points, or 0.02%, at 12,816.42.

For the week, the benchmark index tumbled 7% over concerns that slowing global growth will curtail demand for commodities.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index fell 17.32 points, or 0.95%, to 1,812.11.

The Canadian dollar gained 0.55 of cent to close at US94.05¢, after Statistics Canada reported that the Canadian economy added 15,000 jobs during August.

In New York, U.S. stocks pared losses as bargain-hunting investors bought up shares in the beaten-down financial sector.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 32.73 points, or 0.29%, to 11,220.96, and the S&P 500 was up 5.48 points, or 0.44%, to 1,242.31.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index shed 3.16 points, or 0.14%, to 2,255.88.

For the week, the Dow ended down 2.8%, the S&P fell 3.2%, and the Nasdaq fell 4.7%.