Wall Street Set To Open Higher; Oil Gains

New York, NY (AHN) - Wall Street anticipates stocks are set for a higher start on Monday in response to the U.S. Senate's approval of the housing bill to assist debt-ridden homeowners amid higher foreclosure filings and rising fuel prices.

Last week, the housing market condition weakened further as reports said foreclosure filings went up 120 percent in the second quarter.

At 9:10 a.m. EDT in New York, Standard & Poor's 500 Index futures was moving up 5.22 points or 0.42 percent at 1,257.76 points, Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were increasing 21.41 points or 0.19 percent at 11,370.69 points.

At the same time, NASDAQ-100 Index futures were advancing 30.42 points or 1.33 percent at 2,310.53 points.

In commodities, a light sweet crude-futures barrel for September delivery moved above $124-a-barrel mark in electronic trading over the weekend.

Crude traded down by as much as $2.23 to $123.26 a barrel on Friday in New York Mercantile Exchange, as the U.S. markets retreated.

The contract gained slightly $1.37 to $124.63 a barrel in electronic trading on Monday after Iran said on Saturday that it has up to 6,000 uranium-enriching centrifuges, which is twice the country had two months ago.

The latest announcement by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came amid rising tensions in the Middle East region following the missile tests conducted by the country.

Tehran started installing 6,000 new centrifuges in April 2007, of which around 5,000 are operational, according to the Islamic Republic's president.

The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed around 3,000 to 3,500 centrifuges, which were operational at the Natanz plant.

Another event expected to help the market is approval by the U.S. Senate of a landmark housing bill to rescue America's battered housing market.

The Senate, meeting Saturday in a rare weekend session, voted 72 to 13 in favor of the bill that offers up to $300 billion in loan guarantees for homeowners to obtain cheaper loans.

The measure, which some Republican critics claim will cost the taxpayers billions, will allow troubled homeowners an opportunity to refinance with state-backed, fixed-rate loans.

Under the new measure, lenders must agree to write down loan balances to 90 percent of the homes' current appraised value after their debt-ridden borrowers opt for new 30-year fixed-rate mortgages.

The bill also provides $3.9 billion in grants to the hardest-hit families in different communities for buying foreclosed property.

The new law will also rescue the beleaguered firms, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which have found difficult to raise fresh capital enough to shore up its weakened balance sheet. Shares of both the firms increased on Monday.

Shares of Kraft Foods Inc., the world's No.2 largest foodmaker, posted more earnings than projected. Its shares added 3.6 percent to $30.45 on Monday.

In the global market, the airline industry weighed on stocks in European markets in early-morning trading sessions on Monday's, with a weak earnings outlook for the rest of this year.

Additional pressure came from the financial sector as insurers are likely to suffer further due to more credit related losses after Munich Re's last week profits warning.

Airliners dropped after Ryanair Holdings PLC, which is Europe's biggest discount airline, plunged by as much as 15 percent on Monday after the firm reported 85 percent drop in its net income, excluding writedowns, to 21 million euros ($33 million) in the three months ended June 30 on higher fuel costs.

Financial firms pushed down the shares in most of the Asian region to end lower after last week's rally led by consumer electronics and exporters.

In currency trading, the yen changed hands at 107.75 yen per U.S. dollar in Asia. In late New York on late Friday, the Japanese currency was at 107.81 yen against the dollar.