Toronto stocks will likely endure another volatile session Monday ahead of a slew of fourth-quarter earnings reports and an expected interest rate cut from the Bank of Canada.

Analysts expect the central bank to trim its key rate by half a percentage point, when it makes its announcement on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, U.S. financial markets are closed Monday for the Martin Luther King national holiday.

In today’s economic news, federal Industry Minister Tony Clement unveiled $1.5 billion in Business Development Bank of Canada funding to help spur credit.

The initiative is aimed at companies that supply the auto sector and other small- and medium-sized businesses.

Statistics Canada said non-residents cut a sizeable amount of Canadian securities from their holdings in November, as they sold shares and significantly adjusted their holdings of debt instruments in favour of more liquid and short-term assets.

Canadian investors continued to repatriate funds from foreign markets, though at a considerably slower pace than in October, StatsCan said.

The Canadian dollar opened at US80.34¢ on Monday, up 0.21 of a cent from Friday’s close.

In commodities news, light, sweet crude for February delivery was down 66¢ at $35.85 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile exchange.

In today’s earnings news, Royal Bank of Scotland reported a full-year loss of US$41.3 billion, the biggest corporate loss in British history.

Overseas, Asian markets moved higher as investor confidence was buoyed by the prospect of Barack Obama’s inauguration as U.S. President on Tuesday.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average edged up 26.70 points, or 0.3%, to 8,256.85, South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.4% to 1,150.65 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng recovered early losses to rise 0.6% to 13,339.99. Asia a

In European, stock markets rallied Monday as investors digested the details of the British government’s second bailout of its banking sector in just over three months.The government said it would be creating a scheme to insure bank loans in the hope that the banks will start lending again.

The UK’s FTSE 100 index of leading British shares, which was up 82.82 points, or 2%, at 4,229.88,

Germany’s DAX rose 72.05 points, or 1.7%, at 4,438.33, while Frances’s CAC-40 was up 48.50 points, or 1.6%, to 3,065.25.

Toronto equities managed to bounce back from midday losses on Friday, finishing the day with slight gains on strength in commodity stocks.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 40.79 points, or 0.46%, to close at 8,920.4. For the week, the benchmark index shed 1.8%.

The S&P/TSX Venture index rose by 21.35 points, or 2.5%, to end at 865.65.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 68.73 points, or 0.8%, to close at 8,281.22.

The S&P 500 index increased 6.38 points, or 0.75%, to end at 850.12.

The Nasdaq composite index gained 17.49 points, or 1.2%, to end at 1,529.33.

For the week the Dow was down 5.6%, the S&P 500, lost 5.9%, while Nasdaq gave up 3.02%.

IE