North American stocks looked poised to rally Tuesday morning, the first session of the new year, after petering out at the end of 2005.

After a three-day New Year’s holiday weekend, Wall Street futures suggested a strong start for regular trading and European indexes rose in early action.

In economic news, data on November construction spending and the ISM manufacturing business index for December are due at 10:00 ET.

Investors will also be paying attention to the release of Federal Open Market Committee minutes at 14:00 ET.

Markets will be looking to see whether the Fed offered up any more clues on how much longer it will continue its cycle of raising U.S. interest rates.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

Crude-oil prices rose 43¢ to US$61.47 in early trading Tuesday.

The Canadian dollar opened the year at US86.15¢, up 0.17 of a cent.

In today’s business news, Germany’s ThyssenKrupp AG has increased its takeover offer for Canadian steelmaker Dofasco Inc. to $4.9 billion, or $63 a share, matching the second bid by Arcelor SA of Luxembourg. ThyssenKrupp also said it will extend the deadline on its offer to January 25, from January 10.

Overseas markets also were bullish, with gains in Europe and Asia, though volumes were still on the light side. Tokyo was still shut for a holiday.

On Friday, falling gold and technology stocks kept the Toronto stock market firmly in negative territory on the final trading day of the year.

Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index was close to a five-year high even as it declined 29.94 points to 11,266.35 Friday afternoon. The benchmark index finished 2005 up 22%.

The TSX Venture Exchange moved 3.87 points higher to 2,223.55, capping a winning year that saw the junior index jump more than 21%.

U.S. stocks finished 2005 on a bearish note on Friday, with the Dow industrials suffering the first yearly loss since 2002. The Dow fell 67.32 points to 10,717.50. The S&P 500 slipped 6.13 to 1,248.29, but finished 2005 up 3%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index shed 12.84 to 2,205.32, but closed the year up 1.37%.