Stocks are expected to open flat Monday, as traders await fresh data on the economy and prepare for earnings news ahead.

The pace of earnings will again be strong this week, with McDonald’s, DuPont, Boeing and Exxon Mobil just a few of the U.S. corporations reporting. Canadian filers include Manulife, Noranda, Nortel Networks, Petro-Canada and Brascan.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada this morning.

At 10:00 ET, the U.S. Commerce Department is scheduled to release its reading on sales of new homes in March. Economists are predicting a drop of 0.8%, after February’s 5.8% surge.

In business news, Sanofi-Synthelabo formally announced plans to create the world’s third-largest pharmaceutical company after making a new bid for Franco-German Aventis SA worth US$65.5 billion.

Overnight, Hong Kong’s key Hang Seng index fell 251.26 points, or 2%, to 12,132.68. The selloff was triggered by fears that SARS might spread on the Chinese mainland.

Tokyo’s Nikkei added 43.23 points to 12,163.89, its highest close since Aug. 7, 2001.