News of economic growth is greeting investors on both sides of the 49th parallel this morning. The Canadian composite leading indicator continued to strengthen for a fifth straight month, with a 0.6% increase in October. U.S. GDP came in at 8.2% for the third quarter, the largest quarterly increase in over 19 years.

Wall Street futures actually slipped a little after the GDP number came out, as if investors are worried about too much growth. That should level out as the day progresses.

Statistics Canada is reporting that the index of leading indicator is showing the largest back-to-back gains since early in 2002. The housing components continue to lead growth. An upturn in business spending also gave a boost to the overall index.

The strength in housing spilled over into higher sales of furniture and appliances. Demand for other durable goods rose for a fifth straight month. Household spending was reinvigorated by the largest consecutive gains in full-time jobs since the start of the year, just as interest rates and consumer prices fell.

Business spending in Canada also showed signs of improving, says StatsCan. In manufacturing, the ratio of shipment to stocks of finished goods ended a six-month slide. Services employment was lifted by the first gain in business services in six months.

At 10:00 ET, the latest report on American consumer confidence is due. The numbers are expected to point to a robust economy.

Expectations of positive earnings reports from the banks are being marred by the accusations against TD Bank that it knew about Enron’s deception. The U.S. court-appointed examiner for the Enron debacle says TD was among banks that had “actual knowledge of the wrongful conduct” in six Enron transactions totalling US$2 billion US. The examiner says this means TD’s US$57.8 million US in Enron bankruptcy claims “may be equitably subordinated to the claims of other creditors.”

TD reports on Wednesday. Royal Bank and Bank of Montreal are reporting today.

Trading finished on a positive note in Asia, following yesterday’s gains on Wall Street. Tokyo’s Nikkei average rose 107.37 points to 9,960.20. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index rose 159.51 points to 12,008.07.

In Europe at midday, London FTSE 100 is up 0.6%, 24.5 points to 4,406.9 early in the afternoon. Frankfurt’s DAX is up 0.7%. The Paris CAC40 is up 0.6%.

On Monday, the Canadian dollar closed below 76¢ for the first time in three weeks. The drop occurred due to general U.S. dollar strength and a weak Canadian retail-sales report.

Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite stock index added 66.56 points to 7,850.15, led by a 4.4% boost in information technology stocks.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 119.26 points to 9,747.79. The Nasdaq composite climbed 53.26 points or 2.8% to 1,947.14, its biggest jump in almost five months. The S&P 500 added 16.80 at 1,052.08.