In a thin trading week leading up to the Labour Day weekend, investors have some positive news about the American economy to boost their spirits. The U.S. Commerce Department is reporting that consumers spent more strongly than economists had anticipated in the second quarter, driving the economy to greater strength than previously thought.

Second-quarter gross domestic product rose at a revised 3.1% annual rate after growing at a 1.4% annual rate during the first quarter of 2003, says the Commerce Department. Economists had expected growth of 2.9%. Unfortunately, corporations haven’t been holding up their end. Commerce says the estimate of corporate profits fell 3.4%, after climbing 3.8% in the first quarter. Economists had expected that gauge to increase this quarter.

Meanwhile, initial jobless claims rose by 3,000 to 394,000 in the week that ended Saturday, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Though, most of the 3,000 were attributed to workers filing who were unable to file a week earlier due to the blackout in the Northeast. That number is better than expected though. Economists had expected claims to rise by 9,000.

Here at home the day’s news isn’t as good. Statistics Canada is reporting that Canada’s current account surplus with the rest of the world fell $1.8 billion to $5.1 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis in the second quarter. The decline in the overall balance was led by deteriorating balances for the goods and investment income components.

In the capital and financial account, foreign investors again actively acquired Canadian bonds, although they mainly switched to those denominated in foreign currencies. They also bought Canadian stocks, as equity markets picked up. For their part, Canadians continued to buy foreign bonds, bringing their acquisition for the first half of 2003 to an all-time high. This occurred when the Canadian dollar was at over US74¢ , up 6¢ from the first quarter and nearly 11¢ since the beginning of the year.

There will be some significant earnings news in Canada later today when investors will hear from TD Bank, National Bank and Laurentian Bank.

At midday in Europe, France’s CAC-40 is up 48.48 to 3328.50. London’s FTSE 100 is up 8.70 to 4215.10, while Germany’s DAX index is up 39.96 to 3523.04.

In Asian, the Nikkei Stock Average dropped 83.77 points, or 0.81%, to finish at 10,225.22. The Hang Seng Index added 81.57 points, or 0.76%, to 10,760.12, just beneath a 13-month high.