Stocks are poised for a mild upswing this morning. The outlook for networking companies such as Juniper Networks and Cisco Systems are looking up as the bargain hunters go shopping. U.S. drug stocks are also set to rise after Barr Laboratories Inc. got permission to make a generic version of Prozac.

In economic news, U.S. initial jobless claims rose by 8,000 last week, against expectations of a slight improvement. There’s a slew of data out in Canada. Real gross domestic product grew 0.6% in the first quarter, up slightly from 0.4% in the fourth quarter of 2000. GDP was up 0.1% in March, offsetting a similar decline in February.

Canada’s surplus on current account transactions jumped $4.2 billion to $12.7 billion on a seasonally adjusted basis, extending a run of record surpluses since the first quarter of 2000.

Crude oil prices are down more than 1% this morning after U.S. inventories of natural gas were reported up on record production.

In Europe stocks are up, led by exporters after a slide in the Euro. The Euro began falling today after comments from Wim Duisenberg, president of the European Central Bank, ended hope that the central bank will dive in to support the currency. The FTSE is up 14 points to 5811. The CAC 40 is basically
unchanged at 5444. The DAX has gained 52 points to 6093.

Overnight in Asia, stocks slid, led by tech blue chips. The Nikkei closed down 231 points to 13262. The
Hang Seng lost 246 points to 13174.

In earnings news, Canadian 88 posted net earnings of $12.2 million and cash flow of  $35.2 million in the first quarter of 2001, compared to a $4.3 million loss and cash flow of $5.2 million for the same period in  2000.