The Canadian dollar jumped above parity with the U.S. greenback again on Tuesday, while early stock market signals look positive.

The loonie opened at US100.15¢, up about three-fifths of a cent from Monday’s close.

Meanwhile, Canadian manufacturers are expecting tougher times as the rapid run-up in the value of the Canadian dollar and record crude oil prices may be taking a toll on the sector.

In its quarterly Business Conditions Survey for the first quarter of 2008, Statistics Canada said “manufacturers were anticipating to lower production and employment levels in the coming three months.”

South of the border, an unexpected increase in durable-goods orders helped stock futures rise as the U.S. Federal Reserve prepared to start a two-day meeting on interest-rate policy.

The U.S. Commerce Department today reported that December orders for durable goods jumped by 5.2% to a seasonally adjusted US$226.60 billion.

Wall Street economists had expected an advance of just 2.1%.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence report for January is due at 10:00 ET.

In today’s earnings news, Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. said its fourth-quarter profit soared to $342 million from a year-ago $146 million, thanks mainly to lower future Canadian income tax rates.

U.S. mortgage lender Countrywide Financial said it swung to a fourth-quarter loss, as delinquencies continued to rise and the mortgage lender recorded more write-downs and set aside US$924 million for credit losses.

American Express reported a 10% profit fall after setting aside more money to cover loan losses.

Crude-oil futures rose 6¢ to US$91.05 a barrel. Gold futures slipped 80¢ to US$926.30 an ounce.

Overseas, equity markets generally were stronger after Monday’s gains on Wall Street. The Nikkei 225 climbed 3% in Tokyo, and the FTSE 100 rose 1% in London.

Mining and financial issues pushed Toronto stocks higher Monday. The S&P/TSX composite index overcame early losses to close up 92.08 points, or 0.71%, at 12,986.91.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index closed up, gaining 3.74 points, or .15%, to end the day at 2,557.80.

In New York, markets were buoyed by high expectations that the Federal Reserve will slash rates this week.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 176.72 points, or 1.45%, to 12,383.89.

The S&P 500 gained 23.35 points, or 1.75%, ending at 1,353.96.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 23.71 points, or 1.02%, to 2,349.91.