North American markets likely will rise Monday as investors gear up for a handful of key U.S. economic reports this week, including data on consumer prices, retail sales and consumer confidence.

The first of the U.S. economic reports comes at 10:00 ET, when the Commerce Department will release a new indicator, the quarterly services-sector survey.

Here at home, Statistics Canada said today that labour productivity in Canada’s business sector inched up between April and June, as economic output and hours worked grew at almost the same pace.

StatsCan said productivity increased 0.1% in the second quarter, continuing the lacklustre performance that began a year ago. After posting a strong 1.1% gain in the first quarter of 2003, productivity has been virtually flat for five consecutive quarters.

In this morning’s business news, US Airways Group filed for bankruptcy-court protection for the second time in 25 months. The move came after the airline ran out of time in its efforts to wrest savings from its unions as it faces crucial financial hurdles.

Asian stocks closed mostly higher overnight. Tokyo’s Nikkei rose 169.88 points, or 1.53%, to 11,253.11. The Nikkei rose for the first time in four sessions as investors bought high-tech blue chips as they took a cue from gains Friday in their American counterparts.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index rose 135.58 points, or 1.04%, to 13,139.57.

OPEC oil ministers are meeting this week in Vienna to discuss price targets and production quotas.

Oil prices fell Friday, taking Canadian markets with them, but giving Wall Street a welcome boost by offsetting some blue-chip profit warnings.

Toronto’s S&P/TSX closed down 25.41 points, or 0.3%, to 8,368.62 for a gain of 0.29% on the week. The TSX Venture Exchange ended the day up 14.66 points, or 0.97%, to 1,520.82.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average closed 23.97 points, or 0.23%, higher at 10,313.07 — for a gain of 0.51% on the week. The technology-heavy Nasdaq was ahead 24.66 points, or 1.32%, on the day to 1,894.31, while the S&P 500 advanced 5.54 points, or 0.5%, to 1,123.92.

The Canadian dollar was down in late trading, off 0.22 of a cent to US77.43¢. The dollar wasn’t helped by a Statistics Canada report that Canada’s August unemployment rate came in at 7.2%, the same as July. Employment fell by 7,000 last month, versus expectations of a 20,000 increase.