By James Langton

(April 9 – 09:00 ET) – Stocks are pointing to an up open this morning, on the strength of rallies in Europe and in United States futures. Old economy names are leading the rally in Europe, led by food retailers and other recession-proof industries.

Techs are also looking a bit brighter on the news that Amazon.com Inc. expects to record a narrower first-quarter loss of less than US$255 million.

There’s also talk that the U.S. Federal Reserve Board may cut rates before its next meeting. That rumour is generally supportive for stocks this morning, although there’s no news from the Fed itself.

In Europe, the old economy names have stocks up after opening lower. European markets got a further boost from the announcement that Germany’s biggest utility, E.ON AG, is buying Powergen plc for US$14 billion in cash and assumed debt. In London, the FTSE is up seven points to 5,608. In Paris, the CAC 40 has gained 15 points to 5,155. Germany’s DAX is up 51 points to 5,750.

Overnight in Asia the news was not as good. Stocks were hammered as the yen fell in the wake of renewed Japanese economic recovery concerns. The Nikkei dropped 542 points to 12,842. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng shed 185 points to 12202.

In about the only economic news of the week, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reports that housing starts fell 1.5% in March to 153,800 units. The annual urban single starts rate fell 5.5% to 78,600 in March.

Urban multiple starts were up 4.3% to an annual rate of 56,100 units in March, due to more starts in Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Alberta, and Saskatchewan.