Stocks are expected to open mixed ahead of a U.S. long weekend. U.S. markets will be closed Monday for the Memorial Day holiday, while U.K. markets will be closed for a British bank holiday.

In this morning’s economic news, Canada’s manufacturers’ prices were up 0.8% in April following an increase of 0.6% in March, Statistics Canada said today. Compared with April 2003, prices rose 1.5%, the first gain in 12 months.

From a monthly perspective, StatsCan said prices for motor vehicles and other transport equipment increased 0.8%, mainly as a result of the effect of the exchange rate. Prices for primary metal products rose 1.7% because of increases for aluminum, nickel, iron and steel products. Lumber and other wood products increased by 2.3% as increased demand resulted in higher prices for softwood lumber (+3.9%) and particleboard (+2.0%).

In a separate release, StatsCan said Canada’s current account surplus with the rest of the world, on a seasonally adjusted basis, rose $2.8 billion in the first quarter of 2004 to $9.5 billion, its highest level in three years. A higher surplus on trade in goods led to the increase.

South of the border, U.S. personal incomes grew in April at twice the rate of spending, boosting the savings rate to the highest level since last summer.

Personal income increased by 0.6% last month, after an unrevised 0.4% gain in March, the Commerce Department said Friday. Spending advanced 0.3%, after rising a revised 0.5%.

Economists had expected income to grow by 0.5%, and for spending to climb by 0.2%.

The increase in income was the largest monthly gain since November’s 0.6% advance. Disposable personal income, or income after taxes, climbed 0.5%, following a 0.4% advance in March.

The University of Michigan will release its report on consumer sentiment at about 9:45 a.m. ET. Economists are calling for the index to improve to 95.6.

The National Association for Purchasing Management in Chicago is due to release the May index at 10:00 ET. Economists are looking for a modest decline to 62.0 in May from 63.9 in April.

In business news, after markets closed Thursday, silver producer Coeur d’Alene Mines Corp. of Idaho offered $2.5 billion for Wheaton River Minerals of Vancouver and Golden Star Resources of Denver bid $1.2 billion for Iamgold Corp. of Toronto in separate but co-ordinated deals.

As well, investment management firm Canaccord Capital Corp. announced plans for an initial public offering of common stock by its parent Canaccord Holdings Ltd.

Overnight, Asian stock markets closed higher. Tokyo’s Nikkei gained 143.54 points, or 1.29%, to 11,309.57.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng rose 132.97 points, or 1.10%, to 12,116.87.

On Thursday, the S&P/TSX composite index closed up 24.62 points at 8,343.60. A drop in oil prices hit energy stocks and prevented the Toronto index from matching the gains on Wall Street.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average rallied 95.31 points to 10,205.20, while the broader S&P 500 index gained 6.32 points to 1,121.26.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index gained 8.35 points to 1,984.50, its fifth straight day of gains.