The big story on both Bay Street and Wall Street this morning is Manulife Financial’s acquisition of U.S. insurance giant John Hancock Financial. The deal is worth about $15 billion and will make Manulife the second largest insurance company, on a market capital basis, in North America.

The deal will give Manulife a market capitalization of $34.7 billion. The two companies had $333 billion in assets under management as of June 30, and will create the fourth largest individual life insurer in the United States and the largest individual and group life insurer in Canada.

At 10:00 ET the S&P/TSX composite index was up 24.10 points at 7,457.18. Manulife shares were down $1.50 to $39.35.

In New York, stocks climbed at the opening bell. The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average advanced 23 points to 9,336. The broader S&P 500 index rose 2 points to 999. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite ondex (NasdaqSC:^IXIC – News) gained 12 point to 1,804.

Stocks opened higher after the U.S. Department of Commerce is reported that consumer spending in August increased 0.8%. That follows a 0.9% gain in July. Spending on durable goods, items such as cars, rose 2.8%, following an increase of 3.3% in July. Spending on non-durable goods increased 0.9%, after rising by the same rate in the previous month. Spending on services climbed 0.3%, after a 0.5% rise a month earlier.

This up-trend flies in the face of the drop in consumer confidence reflected in the University of Michigan consumer confidence index, released last Friday — sparking a market sell-off.

On Friday, the S&P/TSX composite index fell 80.29 points, or 1.07%, to 7,433.08 on Friday as stocks sold off in most sectors. For the week, the benchmark index slipped 2.2%.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 30.88 points to 9,313.08, while the broader S&P 500 dropped 6.42 points to 996.85.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index dropped 25.17 points, or 1.39% , to 1,792.07. For the week, the Nasdaq posted a hefty loss of nearly 6%.

In Asia, Monday trading closed lower following the Wall Street sell-off on Friday. Tokyo’s Nikkei average fell 88.87 points to 10,229.57. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index fell 148.87 points, or 1.3%, to 11,141.28, led by bank and property stocks.

In London at midday, the FTSE 100 index is up 0.6% , rising 25.6 points to 4,182.7. In Frankfurt, the DAX has gained 0.9%. Paris’s CAC40 is up 0.6%.