Despite some positive economic news on both sides of the border, pre-market futures trading is flat, signaling a mixed morning on the equities markets. War worries and scepticism from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan over the Bush tax cut plan is dampening optimism.

Initial jobless claims in the U.S. fell 18,000, exceeding analyst expectations. Excluding autos, overall sales rose 1.3%, also an improvement on expectations. Auto sales, effected by oil prices (and war worries) tumbled by 7.5%, nearly reversing a 7.9% gain in December. Retail sales fell by 0.9% last month, as consumer showed more caution with their spending. Economists had expected overall sales to fall 0.6%, and sales excluding autos to rise 0.4%.

In Canada, the auto sector fared much better. Government incentives did much to sustain the growth in the auto sector in 2002, as they did in 2001. Sales rose 6.3% from November. This gain helped propel the number of new motor vehicles sold in 2002 to a new record high.

European markets are mixed this morning. London’s FTSE 100 is up 14.10 points to 3,630.2. The Frankfurt DAX is down 0.5%. The Paris CAC-40 is down a mere 0.1%.

Asian markets fell yesterday, following declines on Wall Street, ahead of Friday’s report by UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix. Tokyo’s Nikkei average declined 64.51 points to close at 8,599.66, as traders sold after two days of gains. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index lost 141.47 points to 9,173.43, with exporters hardest hit.

In earnings news, HSBC Bank Canada reported net income of $260 million for the year ended Dec. 31, 2002. That’s an increase of 21.5% from $214 million in the same period of 2001. Net income was $65 million for the quarter ended 31 December 2002, an increase of 27.5% from $51 million in the fourth quarter of 2001. Return on average common equity was 16.4% for the year ended December 2002 and 15.9% for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2002 compared to 14.9% and 13.3%, respectively, for the same periods in 2001.