LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures wavered between positive and negative territory on Monday, in the first session of a holiday-shortened week.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose 24 points to 8,557, Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 4 points to 1,215.00, while S&P 500 futures rose 4.70 points to 886.00.
Earlier, stock futures had pointed to a lower start on Wall Street.
"With volumes thinning even further this week we could be in store for a volatile but scrappy few days of trading," said Ian Griffiths, trader at CMC Markets.
On Friday, U.S. stocks pulled mostly higher for another week, as investors drew a sigh of relief after the White House stepped in to rescue automakers, offsetting worries that an industry breakdown would deepen the recession.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 8,579.11, off 25.88 points, or 0.3%, to finish the week down 0.3%.
The S&P 500 ) advanced 2.32 points, or 0.3%, to end at 887.6, up 0.9% from a week ago. The Nasdaq Composite rose 11.95 points, or 0.8%, to 1,564.32, giving it a 1.5% weekly gain.
Toyota Motor Corp. Monday forecast an operating loss for the current year, the first in the automaker's history since the Second World War, blaming a slump in the global automobile market and a sharp appreciation in the Japanese yen against major currencies. See full story.
Recruitment firm Manpower Inc. withdrew its fourth-quarter revenue and earnings guidance due to continued declines in global labor markets foreign currency movements.
"We continue to see further weakening in demand for our services in most of our markets due to the deteriorating economic environment," said Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Joerres. The company will take a restructuring charge in the fourth quarter related to employee severance and office closure costs.
American International Group said Monday that it will sell its HSB Group unit to Munich Re for $742 million. Munich Re will assume $76 million of outstanding capital securities.
HSB, the parent company of The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company, is a worldwide provider of equipment breakdown and engineered-lines insurance and reinsurance.
Some of the nation's biggest property developers are asking the government for assistance as a record amount of commercial real-estate debt comes due, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal on Monday.
The industry is reportedly asking to be included in a new $200 billion loan program initially created by the government to assist the market for student loans, car loans and credit-card debt.
Crude-oil futures were little changed, up 26 cents at $42.62 a barrel.
The dollar fell against the euro on Monday, with the euro up 0.5% at $1.3988.
In international markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 Average rose 1.6%, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index declined 0.2%.
