Stock futures are pointing to a higher opening Monday as the dollar weakened and investors try to snap a three-day losing streak.

Investors are heading toward the final month of the year with more questions about the economy than they had just a few weeks ago.

Oil prices rose above $78 a barrel Monday as Iran's war games, aimed at protecting its nuclear plants, deepened tensions in the oil-rich region.

The government is financing its more than trillion-dollar-a-year borrowing with i.o.u.s on terms that seem too good to be true a happy situation that may not last much longer.

As the hours tick down to Black Friday, the most-hyped shopping day of the year, the big question is about safety more than spending after last year's trampling death at a Wal-Mart.