Stocks are expected to open higher as investors appear ready to shrug off Friday’s weak U.S. employment report.

The market is also getting a boost from new that OPEC will increase production to take up some of the slack created by the strike in Venezuela.

In corporate news, the board of directors of Canada Life Financial Corp. has rejected Manulife Financial’s $6.3 billion takeover bid. The said Monday morning that it is talking to other possible suitors and urged shareholders to hang on to their stock. “Manulife can afford to pay more,” Canada Life said.

On Sunday, AOL Time Warner announced that chairman Steve Case will resign his post in May, two years after one of history’s most stunning mergers. The announcement came after months of pressure from shareholders.

In Europe, stocks are up so far today, following a very strong industrial production report from Germany. This is boosting big industrials such as DaimlerChrysler AG and ThyssenKrupp AG. There’s also a bit of M&A news in the U.K., with J Sainsbury plc said to be contemplating a rival bid for Safeway plc, to trump an earlier bid from William Morrison Supermarkets plc. And, Vodafone Group plc said it may spend US$2.1 billion to take control of three of its European units. 

London’s FTSE index is up 0.56%, Frankfurt’s DAX is up 2.64% and Paris’s CAC 40 has added 1.44%

Japanese financial markets were closed for a national holiday, but Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 112.58 points to 9,834.08.

Earnings season get underway today. Among high-profile companies issuing reports will be IBM, Shaw Communications, Sears Canada, Intel and Yahoo.

In other business news, Penn West reports that its initial capital expenditure budget for 2003 has been set in the range of $550 to $650 million. Approximately $490 million of this amount will be allocated to exploration and development activities, with the balance allocated to property acquisitions.

Finally, Cognos has completed the acquisition of privately-held Adaytum.