Stocks are looking mixed this morning, without too much direction either way. Techs are up a bit as Friday’s optimism seems to have survived the weekend, despite the news that Toshiba Corp. is cutting 10% of its global workforce and is expecting a loss of almost US$1 billion this fiscal year.

European stocks are up on hope that the European Central Bank will lower interest rates on Thursday. Names such as Alcatel SA and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA are on the way up. Deutsche Telekom AG is up on news that Finnish firm Sonera Oyj has sold some of its stake in Deutsche. The Euro traders have been able to shake off their skepticism of the ECB, it is down on fear that the cuts will not be aggressive enough.

The CAC 40 is up 30 points to 4946. The DAX has added 47 points to 5435. London’s markets are closed for a holiday today.

Overnight in Asia, stocks were also up. The Nikkei jumped 109 points to 11275. The Hang Seng gained 124 points to 11235.

In other news, Canadian Pacific Limited announced that it has received a favourable tax ruling from the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency, confirming that the proposed reorganization of CP will occur on a tax-deferred basis. Having received the favourable ruling, CP Railway will shortly return approximately $700 million in capital to CP.

It is anticipated that the board of PanCanadian Petroleum will declare the special dividend of approximately $1.18 billion ($4.60 per share) in the near future. These funds will be used by CP to repay existing third party debt and other expenses.

In earnings news, the Forzani Group Ltd. announced its eighteenth consecutive quarter of record results, with net earnings for the second quarter of $2.5 million.

Alliance Atlantis reported net earnings for the first quarter were $6.1 million compared to $1.4 million last year.

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