Futures and European bourses are up Monday pointing to positive day on the equities markets. Moreover, the World Health Organization is slowly changing its position on the manifestation of SARS in Canada and that is helping to boost the Canadian dollar.

The W.H.O. is still concerned about SARS in China, where a new 1,000-bed facility for SARS patients is being built in record time. That’s hurting Asian markets. Tokyo’s key index hit a new 20-year low in Monday trading. The Nikkei average fell 91.62 points, or 1.2%, to 7,607.88.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index edged up slightly — a mere 0.3%.

The outlook in Europe is brighter, despite poor business confidence numbers, reported this morning in Germany and the UK. London’s FTSE 100 index is up 0.5% at midday. Frankfurt’s DAX is up 0.9%. The Paris CAC-40 has risen 0.8%. Analysts expect the European Central Bank to lower interest rates again, due to the business confidence numbers.

There was some good news south of the border Monday morning, where the U.S. Commerce Department is reporting that personal income rose in March as war worries subsided. Personal income climbed 0.4% in March, after a revised 0.2% gain in February. Disposable personal income, or income after taxes rose 0.3% in March, after a 0.2% gain in February.

Here at home, Statistics Canada is reporting that economic activity picked up markedly across the country in 2002, as real gross domestic product growth grew in eight of the 13 provinces and territories. Newfoundland and Labrador led the pack in 2002, its real GDP rising an impressive 13.4%. This was more than twice the rate of growth in Prince Edward Island (+5.6%), which came in second.

Gross domestic product in the provinces east of Manitoba, with the exception of New Brunswick, grew at rates exceeding the national average of 3.4%. Saskatchewan’s economy, hit by drought and weak export markets, was the only one to contract.

In other news, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that infamous Merrill Lynch tech analyst, Henry Blodget, has been fined $4 million in penalties and will be barred from the securities industry for life. The punishment is the result of an investigation launched by the American National Association of Securities Dealers. The NASD examined Blodget’s practice of hyping ratings on internet stocks in return for lucrative investment-banking deals for his firm, despite holding doubts about these companies.