Stocks are looking up this morning after futures traders reacted positively to a mixed employment report in the U.S. The unemployment rate in the U.S. fell to 5.6%. However, the non-farm payrolls lost 43,000 jobs. The drop in jobs was unexpected and presumably negative for the recovery, but traders are keying on the falling jobless rate. The chance of a rate cut in the U.S. has also dropped, according to bond markets.

This positive action comes after negative news such as earnings warnings from EMC Corp. and Schering-Plough. As well, news that Boeing Co. will take a US$158 million write down and TXU Corp. dropped its earnings estimate for the third quarter may have helped.

In Europe, stocks are mostly down on weakening global growth prospects.
Credit Suisse Group is notably weaker because of fears over its loan books. The FTSE is down 58 points to 3,823. The CAC 40 has gained 37 points to 2,824. And, the DAX is down 40 points to 2,773.

Overnight in Asia, stocks managed to close the week on an up note. The
Nikkei gained 91 points to finish at 9,028 and the Hang Seng added 67 points to close at 9,051.

In M&A news, Vivendi Universal SA has reportedly rejected a US$3 billion offer for its publishing unit. It is looking for a stronger offer, as it tries to cut its debt.

Actual deals are happening. Atlas Cold Storage Income Trust is buying a majority of CS Integrated LLC’s temperature-controlled distribution network in the U.S., the related freight management operations, and its retail contract distribution division for approximately $218 million.

Centerpulse Ltd has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its Vascutek vascular grafts business to Japanese medical device company Terumo Corporation for US$170 million. The sale of Vascutek is the second step in Centerpulse’s plan to divest its cardiovascular interests after the September announcement of the sale of IntraTherapeutics for US$95 million.

And, Enerplus Resources Fund has entered into an agreement to acquire all of the outstanding shares and retire the debt of Celsius Energy Resources Ltd., a private oil and gas producer based in Calgary, for $160 million.

In other business news, Tundra Semiconductor announced that it has realigned its corporate strategy for the storage market, dropping its investment in its own product because of the significant costs and time required to fix design flaws specific to the product. The company has not changed its revenue guidance for the second quarter, which remains in the range of $8.2 million to $9million.

Finally, Precision Drilling expects diluted earnings per share for the third quarter of 2002 to be in the range of from 18¢ to 22¢. Fourth quarter diluted earnings per share are now anticipated to be in the 45¢ to 55¢ range.