Canada continues to show strength on the housing front. In February, there were 246,400 housing starts. That’s 34.5% higher than the January 2003 report of 183,200 units, and much higher than analyst expectations of 190,000 for February. Increasing interest rates may dampen this number for March.

Canada’s largest pension-fund manager, the Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec will release its financial results Monday. It’s expected to reveal its worst annual loss in its 37-year history.

Speculation has the Caisse losing more than $2 billion on telecommunications investments last year, mostly on cable company Videotron. Analysts suggest the fund lost $10 billion in 2002, out of $133 billion in assets.

Continuing uncertainty over war with Iraq is casting a pall over the American economy. In a New York Times editorial on Sunday, former U.S. president Jimmy Carter said that U.S. credibility on the world stage will be damaged if America launches a war without U.N. support. Such a move would be a breach of the U.N. Charter.

A top British Minister has threatened to resign if Britain joins with the U.S. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Colin Powell is attempting to round up votes for the disarmament deadline next week.

European stock markets are down, due to war worries and a report from Deutsche Telekom of its worst corporate loss in European history. It lost 24.6 billion euros in 2002.

The German DAX index is down 1.7% at midday. The Paris CAC-40 is off 0.8%. London’s FTSE 100 index has slid 3.4 points to 3,488.2.

Asian stocks closed lower overnight. The key Nikkei index in Tokyo fell to a new 20-year low, down 1.25%, to 8,042.26. The Hong Kong Hang Seng index declined 45.23 points to 8,861.87.