Toronto's main market moved slightly higher Monday, as a proposed merger between two of Greece's biggest banks brought temporary calm to the Eurozone debt crisis, amid a rebound in U.S. consumer spending, a vital component of the American economy. At 12:18pm in Toronto, the S&P/TSX Composite was up 158.72 points, or 1.29%, at 12486.23, while the junior S&P/TSX Venture Composite rose 13.42 points, or 0.77%, at 1765.73. Among the top gainers on the main market was Northgate Minerals (TSE:NGX), which was up 35% at $4.20 following the announcement the gold and copper producer agreed to be acquired by AuRico Gold (TSE:AUQ) in a $1.46 billion all-stock offer. The deal ended Northgate's own proposed $370.4 million offer to acquire Primero Mining (TSE:P). Canadian-headquarted Sino-Forest (TSE:TRE) said over the weekend that Allen Chan has "voluntarily resigned" as chairman and CEO of the Chinese forest plantation operator, pending the outcome of an internal review into fraud allegations, while Standard & Poor's withdrew its rating on the company. Elsewhere, shares in eye-focused biotech company QLT (TSE:QLT) jumped over 9% to $6.87 as it said it has achieved the primary goal of a phase two clinical study of drug latanoprost, for treating glaucoma sufferers. Meanwhile, in the US, spending by U.S. consumers was up 0.8% in July, the strongest increase in five months, following a revised 0.1% fall in June. Economists expected a 0.5% rise. However, personal income rose 0.3% in July, below the 0.4% economists were anticipating. Earlier on Monday, Eurobank and Alpha Bank, the second- and third-largest banks in sovereign debt-laden Greece, agreed to a merger followed by a 500 million euro cash injection from the government of Qatar. The combined Greek bank will have assets of around 150 billion euro. On the economics front for the week ahead, Canadian Industrial Product and Raw Material price indices, as well as the Current Account Balance for the second quarter of the year are due Tuesday, with Real GDP data for the same period scheduled for release on Wednesday. This will also be a busy week for economic data from south of the border, with the minutes from the Federal Reserves' August meeting, as well as S&P Case-Shiller housing price data both due Tuesday. Investors will also get the latest on the U.S. employment situation with the Challenger and ADP reports due for release on Wednesday, ahead of the key U.S. nonfarm payroll numbers for August due out Friday. It was a mixed picture for commodities as gold fell 0.34% to $1791.20 an ounce, and oil was up just under 2% to $87.07 per barrel, near three-day highs as investors bet on a recovery for the U.S. economy. The uptick in crude helped lift some of Canada's biggest oil companies as Suncor Energy (TSE:SU) was up 1.65% at $30.27. Canadian Natural Resources (TSE:CNQ) rose 3.27% to $35.98, and Talisman Energy's (TSE:TLM) stock increased 1.92% to $15.93.

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