Futures trading is pointing to a positive open Monday for equities market. Investors are looking ahead of tomorrow meeting of the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee. The Federal is expected to leave short-term interest rates unchanged in its present range of 40-year lows.

Generally investors seem to be more optimistic. On the cover of this past weekend’s Barron’s magazine, the editors proclaimed that the bull is back. That may well be, but the American manufacturing sector continues to have economists, policy makers and manufacturers scratching their heads.

Orders for factory goods are starting to pick up, yet manufacturers are continuing to shed jobs at a furious pace. In April, manufacturers cut 95,000 positions. That was the 33rd consecutive monthly decline and the longest string of lay-offs in that industry in post-World War II history. Some analysts are blaming overcapacity. Others are saying improved technology has increased productivity.

Despite this kind of confusion the equities markets seem to be improving.

Markets in Tokyo and London are closed for national holidays. But the Frankfurt DAX is up 1.2% at midday in Europe. The Paris CAC 40 is up 2%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 108.31 points overnight to 8,916.49, a 1.2%, following a 1% increase on Friday due to increased optimism about the control of the SARS outbreak.