Trading volume on North American markets is expected to be thin Monday as traders sit this week out during the U.S. Republican National Convention in New York.

In economic news, manufacturers’ prices fell for the second month in a row in July, Statistics Canada said today. Prices edged down 0.4% last month compared with a 0.5% drop in June.

On a 12-month basis, StatsCan said prices rose 5.0%, down from the 6.8% increase registered in June.

Meanwhile prices of raw materials increased 0.9% from June and were 17.7% higher than July 2003.

In a separate release, StatsCan said Canada’s current account surplus with the rest of the world, on a seasonally adjusted basis, increased by $2.2 billion in the second quarter of 2004 to reach $10.4 billion, its second highest level ever.

South of the border U.S. personal incomes rose 0.1% last month after rising an unrevised 0.2% in June. The Commerce Department said July’s increase was the smallest since August 2002, and it marked the third consecutive month of decelerating growth.

Personal consumption rose 0.8%, after falling a revised 0.2% in June. The Commerce Department had originally reported a 0.7% drop in June personal consumption.

Economists surveyed by had forecast personal income would rise 0.4% and spending would rise 0.8%.

Disposable personal income, or income after taxes, climbed 0.1% in July, following a 0.2% advance in June. The July increase was the smallest since September 2003.

Overnight in Asia, markets closed mixed. In Japan, the Nikkei fell 25.06 points, or 0.22%, to 11,184.53. On Friday, the Nikkei rose 80.26 points, or 0.72%.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng rose 59.36 points, or 0.46%, to 12,877.78. On Friday, the index edged up 34.03 points, or 0.26%.

On Friday, Toronto stocks closed flat after a thinly traded session, The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 2.95 points, or 0.04%, at 8,334.29. Volume was 149 million shares. For the week, the benchmark index was also flat.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index inched up 6.23 points, or 0.41%, to end the week at 1,521.15.

On Wall Street, U.S. blue-chips closed at six-week highs on Friday, helped by reassuring consumer confidence data and a bounce in technology stocks, but volume was anemic before this week’s Republican convention in New York City.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 21.60 points, or 0.21%, at 10,195.01. The S&P 500 was up 2.68 points, or 0.24%, at 1,107.77. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index closed up 9.17 points, or 0.49%, at 1,862.09.

For the week, the Dow rose 0.8%, while the S&P 500 added 0.9%. The Nasdaq rose 1.3%.