TORONTO - The Toronto stock market looked set for a strong start to the session Monday as investors prepare to pick over some stocks that were badly beaten up last week during the course of a selloff sparked by plunging oil prices. The Canadian dollar fell 0.1 of a cent to 86.3 cents US. U.S. futures also signalled a positive session with the Dow Jones industrial futures ahead 118 points to 17,309, the Nasdaq futures moved 31.2 points higher to 4,217 while the S&P 500 futures gained 14.7 points to 2,005.1. The Toronto stock market tumbled 742 points or 5.1 per cent last week, leaving the index well into correction territory, having fallen more than 12 per cent from summertime highs. The Toronto market's main index is barely 100 points or 0.8 per cent away from where it started the year. The Dow industrials fell almost four per cent last week. Energy companies have been the most visible targets of an equity market selloff that gained momentum in late November after the OPEC cartel rejected calls to cut production in order to support prices that have dropped more than 40 per cent since midsummer amid a huge supply and demand imbalance. The energy sector, which had been up 20 per cent year to date in midsummer, is now down 30 per cent. But other sectors have been hard hit as investors try to gauge the effect of sharply lower oil prices on the Canadian economy. Financials have also taken a hit amid uncertainty about banks' exposure to high-cost energy producers that have borrowed heavily to finance expansion. The news hasn't been all bad; the consumer staples sector, for example, is up 35 per cent this year, partly because cheaper gas prices are leaving people with more discretionary income. And the consumer discretionary group, which includes auto parts manufacturers, has benefitted from a falling Canadian dollar and is ahead 20 per cent . Meanwhile, oil prices ticked slightly higher after falling 12 per cent last week alone, with January crude up 19 cents to US$58 a barrel. There have been a series of announcements detailing capital spending cuts from oilpatch companies over the past couple of weeks. Western Energy Services Corp. (TSX:WRG) said Monday that it is planning a 2015 capital spending budget totalling $64 million. As of Sept. 30, Western Energy had spent $77.5 million on capital projects this year. The company is also launching a share buyback program. Elsewhere on commodity markets, metals were mixed with February gold ahead $11.90 to US$1,210.60 an ounce. March copper was unchanged at US$2.94 a pound. In other corporate developments, First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (TSX:FM) has temporarily shut down its Ravensthorpe nickel operation in Western Australia following a "structural failure" in a storage tank caused a spill of sulphuric acid-laden material within a processing plant. Traders will also take in some key economic events during the week. The main event is the Federal Reserve's interest rate announcement on Wednesday. Rates are expected to start rising sometime later in 2015 but the timing is unclear. The Fed has committed to keeping short term rates ultra-low "for a considerable period of time" for several years and markets will look to see if there is any change in that wording. Also out in the U.S. this week is data covering industrial production, housing starts and the November reading on inflation. There are a number of important bits of Canadian data being released this week. Statistics Canada will release the latest readings on manufacturing shipments, retail trade and the November reading of the consumer price index.

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