North American markets are expected to open higher Monday, as traders focus on quarterly earnings reports in the absence of news on the U.S. economy.

Among this morning’s earnings reports, 3M reported a 25% jump in profit, crediting a 9.5% gain in total revenue and continued success in cost cutting.

Kraft Foods, meanwhile, posted a 26% drop in net income and lowered its forecast for full-year earnings, blaming higher commodity prices.

In Toronto, the Canadian biotech sector is poised for major movement today as an anti-Alzheimer drugmaker releases trial results and investors react to a heart stent recall by a partner of Angiotech Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Neurochem Inc. will report on final clinical trials on Alzhemed, which has been described by the Montreal-based as a potential blockbuster that could bring huge profits to Neurochem and its shareholders.

Angiotech investors are bracing for a sharp decline in the company’s stock after its American partner, Boston Scientific, recalled about 85,000 Taxus heart stents. The stock did not trade on Friday.

In other drug industry news, pharmaceutical gian t Bayer announced today that it has agreed to acquire Roche Consumer Health. By acquiring this business, Bayer will become one of the top three over-the-counter consumer health companies worldwide.

In this morning’s economic news, Statistics Canada said that foreign investors increased their holdings of Canadian securities in May by $1.3 billion. StatsCan said foreign investment went into debt securities as non-residents sold off existing issues of Canadian shares for the first time in 14 months.

Meanwhile, Canadian investors continued to invest in foreign securities with bonds leading the way. As well, there was a significant increase in the purchase of foreign equities by Canadian investors, StatsCan said.

Investors will also be looking ahead to a key announcement Tuesday from the Bank of Canada to see if the central bank will start moving rates ahead by late summer. Economist say it would be surprising to see the Bank of Canada raise rates Tuesday and instead expect an increase in September.

At midday, European bourses in Paris, Frankfurt and London are off less than 1%.

Overnight in Asia, markets closed slightly higher, with Tokyo’s Nikkei up 26.86 points at 11,436, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index up 107.75 point at 12,166.95.

On Friday, the S&P/TSX composite index fell 46.85 points, or 0.56%, to 8350.46. For the week, the benchmark index dropped 1.4%.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index added 5.79 points, climbing to 1,561.64.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average shed 23.38 points to finish at 10,139.78, according to the latest data. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 29.56 points, or 1.55% to 1,993.15. The broader S&P 500 fell 5.30 points, or 0.49%, to 1,101.39, concluding its fifth straight down week.

For the week, the Dow fell 0.72%. The S&P 500 dropped 1% and the Nasdaq lost 3.3%.

In Canada, investors were influenced adversely by June inflation data, which indicated that the Bank of Canada is likely to raise interest rates in September.