By James Langton

(December 11 – 09:00 ET) – Stocks look poised to rise this morning, after the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the Florida presidential election recount on the weekend, making it more likely that Texas governor George W. Bush will win the White House.

Tech stocks such as Microsoft, Intel and Cisco are all pointing to an up open. The court will hear arguments at 11:00 ET today.

Apart from the election issue there’s no major economic news in the United States today. In Canada there’s no big news either, but Statistics Canada did report the New Housing Price Index increased 0.2% from September to October. The index is up 2.4% in October compared with October 1999. This was the sixth consecutive month in which the year-over-year increase in the index was 2.4%.

In Europe stocks are up on bargain hunting, primarily, led by France Telecom SA and Royal Philips Electronics NV. In London, the FTSE is up 32 points to 6,320. In Paris, the CAC 40 has gained 122 points to 6,061. Germany’s DAX is up 86 points to 6,777.

In M&A news, Shire Pharmaceuticals Group plc is buying BioChem Pharma Inc. for US$4 billion in stock to acquire BioChem’s HIV and cancer treatments.

Thomson Multimedia SA is buying Carlton Communications plc’s Technicolor film-processing unit for US$2.1 billion in cash and stock.

There are also rumours that Vodafone Group plc will buy 15% of Japan Telecom Co. for US$2.5 billion in cash, but no deal has been announced.

Overnight in Asia stocks ran up on some bargain hunting in techs and the outlook for U.S. markets this morning. The Japanese Nikkei closed up 319 points to 15,016. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng added 219 points to close at 15,408.

In other business news, OZ.COM announced the formation of OZ Canada through the acquisition of a company recently established by a subsidiary of Microcell and Ericsson.

The subsidiary of OZ.COM, will function as an advanced application development center for third-generation wireless networks. The acquisition gives Microcell a 9% share in OZ.COM and increases Ericsson’s total share in OZ.COM to 20%.