Source: The Canadian Press

The Toronto market should find lift from the resource sector on Monday as commodity prices picked up amid signs Europe’s recovery is speeding up.

The Canadian dollar dipped 0.08 of a cent to 97.21 cents US.

U.S. futures also pointed higher as official data showed that German exports grew by 3.8% on the month in June and reached their highest level since late 2008. The report bolstered expectations that the world’s second biggest exporter’s economy grew strongly in the second quarter.

The Dow Jones industrial futures gained 38 points to 10,651, the Nasdaq futures rose 7.25 points to 1,909.75 while the S&P 500 futures dropped four points to 1,122.

Oil prices climbed toward US$82 a barrel Monday after crude backed off on Friday in the wake of the release of a weak U.S. non-farm payrolls report for July, which showed lower than expected private sector hiring.

The September crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange advanced 79 cents to US$81.49 a barrel.

Other commodities headed higher with the September copper contract on the Nymex ahead three cents to US$3.38 a pound while December gold in New York gained $3 to US$1,208.30 an ounce.

Research in Motion (TSX:RIM) will be in focus following reports that the maker of the BlackBerry has reached a preliminary agreement with Saudi Arabia that would allow the government some access to users’ data. Under the reported terms, which have not been confirmed by the company, RIM would place one or more local servers within Saudi Arabia.

Several nations, including the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, India, Lebanon and Algeria, have all expressed some degree of concern recently over their inability to monitor BlackBerry traffic.

In other corporate news, a strike has halted production at Teck Resources’ (TSX:TCK.B) operations at its Coal Mountain mine in southeastern British Columbia over the weekend. Coal Mountain, which represents more than 10% of Teck’s annual coal production forecast for this year, produces both metallurgical coal used in steel making and thermal coal used for power generation.

Hewlett-Packard Co. chief executive Mark Hurd was forced to resign on Friday after a sexual harassment claim led to the discovery he falsified expense reports. HP shares rose 95 cents, or 2.3%, to US$42.80 in pre-opening trading. Shares dropped nearly 10% in after-hours trading Friday when his resignation was announced.

Meanwhile, investors will be looking to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s announcement on interest rates Tuesday afternoon. The Fed will likely leave interest rates at historic lows, but could signal plans to restart some stimulus programs.

The Fed let many programs expire this year, such as purchasing mortgage-backed securities, as it appeared the recovery was gaining steam. The Fed could hint Tuesday that it is ready to start new programs to encourage lending even if it doesn’t implement them immediately.

In the statement that accompanies the interest-rate decision, the Fed is expected to provide its assessment of future growth. Chairman Ben Bernanke spooked markets just a few weeks ago when he said the forecast for recovery remains “unusually uncertain.’’

“How the market perceives the outcome of this meeting will dominate sentiment this week,’’ said Michael Hewson, an analyst at CMC Markets.

In overseas trading, the benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average ended 0.7% lower, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng advanced 0.6% and the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.5%.

London’s FTSE100 index gained 1.4%, Frankfurt’s DAX was up 1.32% and the Paris CAC 40 rose 1.62%.