It’s bound to be a soft day for Canadian trading today as investors and traders take the day off to make it an extra long Canada Day weekend.

That said, it’s the final day of the second quarter of trading and the good news is the year-to-date numbers show that the TSX is up 5.5% and the Nasdaq composite index is up 22%.

There’s no major economic news coming from Statistics Canada today. Instead, investors are waiting to hear the latest results of the Chicago Purchasing Managers index. That’s due out at 10:00 ET.

It will precede the Institute of Supply Management survey, which will be released at the same time tomorrow. The ISM is a stronger indicator of economic performance and will be closely watched by market watchers, especially the central banks.
North American markets finished last week on a negative note.

In Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite index lost 12.28 points Friday to 6979.12, for a decline 1.3%. Some analysts said trading was affected by profit-taking fund managers wanting to drive up second quarter results.

Asian investors picked up on Friday’s profit-taking trend. Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 20.95 points, or 0.2%, to 9083.11. In Hong Kong, the main Hang Seng Index fell 80.09 points, or 0.8%, to 9577.12.

Today, meanwhile, futures trading on Wall Street is positive, pointing to a positive open for equity markets.

In Europe, the bourses are also up. At midday, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 index is up 24.59 points, or 0.8%, to 3249.25. BMW is the highest climber and DaimlerChrysler is the most heavily traded stock.

In Paris, the CAC-40 index has gained 20.12 points, 0.7%, to 3129.14. London’s the FTSE 100 stock index is up 14.1 points, or 0.4%, at 4081.9.