U.S. stocks are expected to open flat Monday as investors await the start of first-quarter earnings season.

Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. kicks off earnings season on Tuesday.

Here at home, the value of building permits plunged 15.9% to $3.7 billion in February, Statistics Canada reported. The largest decreases came from the non-residential sector in Ontario.

Economists had expect a drop of 5% from the previous month.

Later today, the Richard Ivey purchasing managers index for March is expected to rise to a reading of 46.2.

The Canadian dollar opened at US81.40¢ on Monday, up 0.13 of a cent from Friday’s close.

In today’s M&A news, The Wall Street Journal reported that takeover talks with IBM and Sun Microsystems are on the verge of collapse.

In earnings news, toymaker Mega Brands Inc. said a tough sales environment coupled with significant impairment charges to its goodwill resulted in deeper fourth-quarter and full-year losses.

Mega Brands reported a loss of US$323.3 million, or $8.83 a share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2008, compared with a loss of $66.2 million, or $1.81 a share, in the prior-year period.

In commodities news, gold futures slumped US$14 an ounce. Light, sweet crude for May delivery was up 42 cents to US$52.93 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Overseas stocks generally were stronger. In Asia, markets looked past North Korea’s test-firing of a rocket, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 ending up 1.2% — its highest level since Jan. 8.

Banks led the gains in Europe, with London’s FTSE 100 up 1.1%.

On Friday, Canada’s benchmark index, finished slightly below where it started, managing to close at above 9,000 for a second consecutive day.

The S&P/TSX composite index finished at 9,065.76, down 7.38 points, or 0.1%.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index dipped 2.68 points, or 0.3%, to close at 975.59.

In New York, U.S. markets registered gains on Friday for a fourth consecutive session, despite news that the U.S. economy lost 663,000 jobs in March.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 39.51 points, or 0.5%, to end at 8,017.59, a weekly advance of 3.1%.

The S&P 500 index rose 8.12 points, or 1%, to close at 842.5, up 3.3% for the week.

The Nasdaq composite index added 19.24 points, or 1.2%, to close at 1,621.87, a weekly gain of 5%.

IE