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US stock futures skyrocketed Monday morning in New York after the government took control of mortgage behemoths Freddie Mac (FRE) and Fannie Mae (FNM) in order to shore up the beleaguered housing market and protect the financial system.

As of 6:15 am ET, the S&P Futures were up 34 points, the Nasdaq Futures were up 38 points, and the Dow Futures were up 242 points.

Stocks ended Friday`s session mixed after seeing significant selling pressure earlier in the week. On Friday, the Labor Department released its highly anticipated monthly report on the employment situation, showing that employment continued to decrease in the month of August.

The outlook for Monday`s session is considerable brighter as Washington`s takeover of Fannie and Freddie has renewed hopes of a turnaround for the housing market. The move to rescue Fannie and Freddie has been endorsed by Fed Chair Ben Bernanke and is seen as proof that the US government will back its federal agencies.

The chief executives at the two firms will be replaced as part of the plan. The Federal Housing Finance Agency will assume the power of management at the companies.

The plan also calls on the Treasury Department to purchase $5 billion of mortgage-backed securities within the next month.

Sunday, global investment bank Lehman Brothers (LEH: News ) said it named Eric Felder and Hyung Soon Lee as global co-heads of fixed income effective immediately. Meanwhile, CNBC reported that Lehman is planning to raise capital and sell off bad debt sometime this week.

The price of oil was up a bit Monday morning in electronic dealing, rising to $0.80 to $107.70 a barrel.

Asian stocks surged higher Monday, with the Hang Seng of Hong Kong rising 861 points and Tokyo`s Nikkei picking up 412 points.

In European intraday dealing, the FTSE of the UK was up 200 points, the DAX of Germany was up 194 points, and the CAC of France was up 190 points.

Economic prospects in Iraq are improving, the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday in its first review of Iraq`s Stand-By Arrangement to support the country`s economic program. The arrangement, worth approximately $746.3 million, was approved in December and is precautionary in nature.

IMF Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair Takatoshi Kato said that future successes will depend on continued improvement - so the supplementary budget was receiving a significant spending increase.

`After several very difficult years, economic prospects for Iraq are improving and the authorities are persevering with the implementation of their economic program in 2008,` Kato said in a statement. `With the recent improvement in security, oil production and exports are increasing while inflation has been reduced. The strengthened fiscal and external positions offer Iraq a good opportunity to rebuild its institutions and infrastructure in order to achieve sustained higher economic growth. The success of these endeavors will hinge on continued improvements in security, sound management of oil revenues, and implementation of key structural reforms.`

He added that fiscal vigilance must be maintained, and that the Central Bank of Iraq was expected to keep its monetary policy tight in order to better control the currency and avoid overheating the economy. An increase in fuel prices also will subsidize the budget.

`It will be important to step up the pace of structural reform,` Kato added. `Of particular urgency are the early adoption of a comprehensive reform plan for modernizing public financial management, the finalization of the census of public service employees to eliminate ghost workers, and the streamlining of the in-kind Public Distribution System. In the financial sector, restructuring programs for two major commercial banks based on the completed financial and operational audits should be taken forward, and the set of prudential regulations for commercial banks completed. Establishment of a new legislative framework for the hydrocarbon sector will facilitate investments in the sector.`

Progress has been made, Kato added, in strengthening governance and fighting corruption through greater transparency in the oil sector - although the most important step is for the central bank to continue to implement IMF guidelines.