The momentum from Friday’s close carried over to Monday, as most markets were trading higher at mid-day.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 17.78 or 0.17%, to 10488.37. Broader stock indicators were narrowly higher. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 0.97, or 0.08% to 1142.78, and the Nasdaq composite index was up 3.68 or 0.18% at 2060.85.

In Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite index gained 31.62 points or 0.36% at 8830.37. Only the TSX Venture exchange was in negative territory, off 10.4 or 0.55% to 1885.02 as gold prices were off. Gold traded in London at US$415.10 bid per troy ounce, down from US$419.00 on Friday.

Six of the TSX sub-indices were off, led by gold, which was down 1.75%. Financials led the way up at 1.59%, with bank of Nova Scotia among the most active; it was up 41¢ at mid-day. Declining issues led advancing issues on both Toronto exchanges. Volume on the S&P/TSX was 122 million, and almost 32 million on the TSXV.

Wall Street was coming off its best week of 2004, fueled by government reports that showed the economy created 308,000 jobs in March. However, some investors remained concerned that if job growth remains at such a high level, that could spur the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates earlier than expected.

Analysts said investors were generally upbeat about the start of earnings season, which was expected to start Tuesday. The jobs report, coupled with the fact that the first few trading days of the month tends to be positive and optimism that upcoming first-quarter results will be strong, combined to keep Toronto stocks in the black.

Nortel Networks Inc., the most heavily traded stock on Bay Street, fell 42¢ on news that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had launched a formal probe linked to results restatements at the company. Nortel said in a brief statement it has been fully co-operating with the SEC, which is the top U.S. regulator of publicly traded companies. It said the SEC investigation is focused on two separate restatements of Nortel’s previous financial reports. The first restatement was announced in October and the second in March.

The first restatement resulted in Nortel reporting a slightly smaller net loss in some periods. The second restatement, which hasn’t been completed, has had a bigger impact – spawning a number of U.S. lawsuits from investors and the suspension, with pay, of Nortel’s chief financial officer.

In other corporate news, Investors Group Inc. said it plans to change its name to IGM Financial Inc. to better reflect its two core business groups.

Jean Coutu Group Inc. stock was up 17¢ after it announced it will pay about US$2.4 billion to J.C. Penney Co. for 1,539 Eckerd drugstores in 13 states of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic United States, as well as Eckerd’s headquarters in Florida. The Quebec-based Coutu Group said it will become the fourth-largest drugstore chain in North America, with a network of 2,196 stores. The acquired drugstores will continue to operate under the Eckerd name.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 1.2%. In afternoon trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 added 0.3%, Germany’s DAX index gained 1.0%, and France’s CAC-40 rose 1.1%.