Employment advertising is increasing and bankruptcies, year-over-year are decreasing in Canada. This morning Statistics Canada is reporting that the Help-wanted Index rose in March to 112.7, up 1.2% from February and the first rise in seven months.

The index increased in four provinces: Prince Edward Island (+0.9%), Quebec (+0.6%), Alberta (+0.6%) and Ontario (+0.3%). Both personal and business bankruptcies rose in January from December, Industry Canada reported Tuesday.

A total 6,293 individuals and 759 businesses declared bankruptcy in January compared with 5,751 individuals and 644 businesses in December. However, fewer individuals and businesses declared bankruptcy this year than in January 2002, when 6,447 consumers and 914 businesses went bankrupt.

A few economic indicators are due out later this morning in the U.S. including the Institute of Supply Management Index, which measures manufacturing. Economists expect the number to drop, reflecting poor winter weather in February on the eastern seaboard, as well as the impact of the Iraq invasion.

SARS is also figuring among the concerns of economists. An editorial in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal advocated a prohibition of travel to China. The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta went a step further, advocating that people think twice about travelling to southeast Asia. But the CDC is also saying that SARS has not spread as quickly as it did in Canada, and no Americans have died of the disease. This is due to the forewarning the U.S. had about its spread, and the ability to urge people with symptoms to get help immediately. Apparently, the CDC is also close to finding a diagnostic test for SARS.

Due to the impact on travel, the airline industry now has another wrench in it works. Two of Air Canada’s biggest unions have accepted major layoffs. The airline’s shares have tumbled o a new 52-week low due to expectations that it will need to seek bankruptcy protection. The Canadian Auto Workers and the union representing machinists and baggage handlers will lose more than 2,300 jobs as their share of 3,600 job cuts announced on March 20.

Despite the war, the SARS scare and the hurting U.S. airline industry, Wall Street futures and European indexes are higher, pointing to a positive open on the equity markets. London’s FTSE 100 index is up 1.61% at midday in Europe. Frankfurt’s DAX has risen 0.33%. Paris’s CAC 40 is up 0.39%.

In Asia the markets closed mixed. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 14.01 points, or 0.18%, to 7,986.72. In Hong Kong, the key Hang Seng Index slipped 37.56 points, or 0.44%, to 8,596.89, its lowest close since October 1998. Shares slumped on rumours that were later denied, that the Hong Kong government would declare the territory an infected area because of the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.