6:30AM European markets were slightly higher Monday on Scania, commodities.
European markets were slightly higher by mid-morning on Monday. The U.K. FTSE 100 index gained 0.1% at 5,880, the German DAX Xetra 30 index was unchanged at 5,938 and the French CAC-40 index edged up 0.1% at 5,150. Merger and acquisition activity was also a focus in the auto sector after German truck maker Man AG said that it made a 9.6 billion euro ($12.2 billion) offer for Swedish counterpart Scania, a move Scania rejected. Man shares dipped 2.6%, while Scania gained 5.5%.

Oil company BP advanced 0.7% following a report on the Web Site of the Financial Times newspaper said that the company is set to launch a root and branch review of its global operations. French car maker PSA Peugeot Citroen slipped 0.6% after it announced that it has signed a letter of intent with Proton to consider possible co-operation between the companies. J.P. Morgan upgraded French software firm Atos Origin overweight from underweight on valuation, with the company\''s shares down over 25% since the start of the year. Atos Origin shares gained 2.8%.

Oil prices edged higher for a second day on Monday, struggling to end their steepest slump in more than a decade. October delivery was up 2 cents at $63.35 a barrel in Globex electronic trading. Brent crude rose 14 cents to $63.47.

Gold traded on Monday at $580.80 an ounce, down $2.80 an ounce from Friday close of $578.00. The euro rose slightly against the U.S. dollar on Monday. In morning European trading, the euro climbed to $1.2684, up from $1.2658 late Friday in New York. The British pound advanced to $1.8836 from $1.8798. The dollar rose to 117.76 yen from 117.59 yen on Friday.

5:00AM Precious metal extended their decline on Friday on strong dollar.
December gold ended down $3 to $583 a troy ounce on the NYME on Friday, while December silver closed down 7.5 cents to $ 10.875. October platinum lost $15.80 to settle at $1,163.70 an ounce. December palladium finished down $12.40 to $314.80.The most active December copper contract shed 6.30 cents to end at $3.3115 per pound.

The front-month October light, sweet crude oil contract finished up 11 cents at $63.33 a barrel. October unleaded gasoline settled up 2.28 cents to $1.5750 a gallon and October heating oil was off 0.87 cent to $1.7023 gallon. October natural gas declined 9.0 cents to close at $4.982 a million British thermal units.

On the New York Board of Trade, December Arabica coffee ended 1.30 cents lower at $1.0210 a pound. October futures on raw sugar in foreign ports settled up 0.28 cent at 12.44 cents a pound.