The US sharemarkets were closed overnight for the Martin Luther King Jr public holiday, and no major local data was due for release on today, although the Australian dollar was expected to stay under $US0.6775.
On Friday, Wall Street managed a second straight comeback, but the rebound was more a sign of the market's turmoil than strength.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 68.73, or 0.84 per cent, to 8,281.22.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 6.38, or 0.76 per cent, to 850.12, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 17.49, or 1.16 per cent, to 1,529.33.
Risk appetite also took another kick as the European Commission forecast that the 27-nation European Union would shrink by 1.8 per cent in 2009.
The EU's executive arm also predicted a jump in the jobless rate this year to 9.3 per cent, up from 7.5 per cent in 2008.
"Those European forecasts can add to that billing of fear and risk, and the need to have safe-house trading," Mr Richardson said.
