Stocks are mixed this morning with hopes that bargain hunting will lift the markets. Techs such as Cisco Systems and Intel look stronger.

In the U.S., personal spending and income increased 0.4% in March. This is the slowest rate in three months and is hampering the recovery outlook.

In Europe, stocks are down. Earnings weakness is coming from three of Europe’s biggest bank, Deutsche Bank AG, ABN Amro Holding NV and Santander Central Hispano SA. They all reported weaker earnings due to loan losses. The telecoms are weak there too. London’s FTSE is down 11 points to 5148. The Paris CAC 40 has dropped 29 points to 4424. The German DAX is off 14 points to 4986.

Japanese markets were closed Monday. The Hang Seng dropped 24 points to close at 11361.

In M&A news, Anthem Inc. is buying Trigon Healthcare Inc. for about US$4 billion in cash and stock. Anthem’s stock is down on the news.

In other news, Emco reported record net earnings for the first quarter of $3.8 million. These results represent a significant increase over a net loss of $4.0 million for the same period in 2001. For the third quarter ended February 28, Lorus incurred a loss of $3,028,000, compared to a loss of $2,738,000 for the third quarter last year.

Home Capital Group Inc. says that its net income for the first quarter grew substantially, by 47.1%, to $4,733,960 from the $3,218,215 recorded for the same period in 2001.