North American markets are expected to open weaker Monday after last week’s steep losses. With earnings season in full swing, traders will be looking for positive reports to kick start stocks.

In today’s earnings news, Bank of America reported a 75% increase in net income for the first quarter, as the addition of FleetBoston Financial and a jump in retail consumer checking accounts helped bolster earnings.

No major U.S. economic data releases are scheduled for Monday.

Here at home, Statistics Canada said foreign investors continued buying Canadian securities in February, though at a slower pace than in the previous two months. Meanwhile, Canadian investors’ holdings of foreign securities surged to its highest level since November 2002.

In a separate release, StatsCan said new motor vehicle sales turned around in February, jumping 12.8% and completely reversing three consecutive monthly declines.

Crude-oil prices slid US5¢ to US$49.95 a barrel in early trading Monday.

Overseas, the Japanese Nikkei index fell 3.8% to 10938.44, its lowest level since December, as escalating anti-Japan protests in China and big losses by U.S. stocks caused Tokyo shares to plunge overnight.

In London, the FTSE 100 index dropped recently amid concerns about the strength of the U.S. economy

In business news, Adobe Systems agreed to buy Macromedia for US$3.4 billion in stock in a deal that will bring together the software of two companies with broad resources to distribute documents, video and other media to personal computers, cellphones and hand-held devices.

Stock markets in Toronto and New York posted triple-digit losses on Friday, putting an end to a brutal week that saw market indices tumble.

The S&P/TSX composite index lost 132.49 points to close at 9277.12 – its lowest level since Feb. 1.

For the week, the TSX benchmark fell 3.6%.

Energy stocks fell 2.45% as crude prices slumped 64¢ to US$50.49 a barrel.

Technology shares dropped 2.16%, hurt by weaker-than-expected earnings report from IBM. Celestica, which counts IBM as a major customer, dropped $1.32 to $13.75.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average plunged 191.24 points to end the week at 10,087.51 – its lowest close since Nov. 2. The Dow dropped 374 points on the week, or 3.6% – its biggest one-week loss in two years.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index dropped 38.50 points to close at 1,908.20. For the week, the Nasdaq fell 4.6%.