Futures trading is up Monday morning on the news that two of America’s top banks, Citigroup and Bank of America, have achieved better than expected quarterly results.

An upgrade from Morgan Stanley on Intel will also be a positive driver for equity markets today, especially the Nasdaq composite index.

Investors are likely to take positive corporate earnings reports as positive signs, while overlooking recent mixed economic reports. Predictions about what the Bank of Canada will do when it meets on Tuesday are also mixed.

Some market watchers are expecting the central bank to cut rates. Others expect the status quo and are relying on a report released last Friday by Statistics Canada that unemployment has declined to 7.7% from 7.8%.

Overseas, the Nikkei closed at 9,755.63 points, up 120.28 points or 1.25% from its Friday closing. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index closed at 10,122.40, up 210.90 points, or 2.13%.

The European bourses are also up. At midday in London, the FTSE 100 is up 19.1 points at 4,077.2. France’s CAC is up 0.9% and Germany’s DAX is 1.59% higher.