Wall Street stock futures pointed to a higher open Tuesday after the long weekend, tracking broad-based gains overseas on merger activity.

U.S. and Canadian financial markets were closed Monday for Labour Day.

In M&A news, Kraft made a US$16.7 billion cash-and-stock bid for Cadbury. Cadbury rejected the bid, setting the stage for Kraft to possibly raise its offer. A joint offer from Nestle and Hershey is also considered a possibility.

Here at home, Statistics Canada reports on building permits for July. Economists expect a month-over-month increase of 0.5%.

South of the border, the U.S. Federal Reserve reports on consumer credit data for July. A drop of US$4 billion is expected, compared with a decline of US$10.3 billion the previous month.

In today’s commodities news, oil prices rose above US$69 a barrel in Asia. Benchmark crude for October delivery was up US$1.04 to US$69.06 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Gold moved above US$1,000 an ounce. Late Tuesday morning in London, gold was trading at US$1,004.60.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei ended with a 0.7% gain. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 2.1%.In

In Europe, Cadbury shares gained 1.7% in London after the company rejected Kraft’s takeover offer.

London’s FTSE 100 was up 0.7% at 4,967.5, the German DAX increased 0.5% to 5,490.8 and Paris’s CAC-40 was 0.5% higher at 3,670.5.

On Friday, the Toronto Stock Exchange enjoyed a third straight session of gains after Statistics Canada reported a surprising boost in employment in August.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 95.98 points, or 0.9%, to close at 11,017.47. The benchmark index finished the week up a modest 40 points from last Friday’s close,

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index added 13.74 points, or 1.1%, to close at 1,229.25.

In New York, U.S. stocks also experienced gains on Friday as the U.S. Labour Department reported that non-farm payrolls fell by 216,000 in August, marking a more modest decline than economists had expected. But the main stock market indices south of the border incurred losses for the week.

The Dow Jones industrial average added 96.66 points, or 1%, to end at 9,441.27. The blue chip average finished down 1.1% from the week-ago close.

The S&P 500 index climbed 13.16 points, or 1.3%, to close at 1,016.40, off 1.2% for the week.

The Nasdaq composite index rose 35.58 points, or 1.8%, to end at 2,018.78, leaving it 0.5% lower on the week.

IE