NEW YORK - Wall Street headed to a lower start Monday to what's expected to be an uneasy week, with investors extremely cautious about a proposed government plan to buy $700 billion in banks' mortgage debt.

Investors are relieved that federal authorities are taking action to relieve the nation's banks of their toxic assets. But it is not sure yet how successful the plan will be in loosening up the credit markets and propping up the sinking housing market.

Bush administration officials and congressional leaders met over the weekend on the rescue plan, the main thrust of which congressional leaders have endorsed.

The government continues to move on other fronts to steady the nation's fianancial system. Late Sunday, the Federal Reserve granted Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, the country's last two major investment banks, approval to change their status to bank holding companies. That will allow the companies to set up commercial banks that will be able to take deposits, significantly bolstering the resources of both.

That change came a week after negotiations failed to save Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. That and the government's plan to bail out American International Group Inc. helped lead to a seizing up of the credit markets that spurred the government to formulate its plan to rescue companies from their crippling debt.

Wall Street, meanwhile, suffered some of its worst turbulence in years, with the Dow Jones industrials alternately falling and rising by hundreds of points each day last week.

Early Monday, Dow Jones industrial futures fell 93, or 0.82 percent, to 11,262. Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 9.00, or 0.72 percent, to 1,237.00. Nasdaq 100 index futures fell 7.50, or 0.43 percent, to 1,732.00.

The dollar fell against most other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

Investors were also watching rebounding oil prices. Light, sweet crude for October delivery rose $2.40 to $106.95 a barrel in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. On Friday, crude oil jumped by more than $6 a barrel to break back above the $100-a-barrel mark, and was up in premarket trading Monday.

Overseas markets were mostly higher. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index climbed 1.4 percent to 12,090.59 points, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.6 percent to 19,632.20.

In European trading, London's FTSE added 0.03 percent, Germany's DAX was down 0.02 percent and France's CAC 40 rose 0.15 percent.

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On the Net:

New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com

Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com

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