Wall Street futures are pointing to a strong start this morning, as earnings season continues. Here in Canada, Barrick Gold Corp. will report today.

Later in the week, we’ll hear from several big players including Biovail Corp., Canadian Pacific Railway, Quebecor Inc., Thomson Corp., PetroCanada and Enbridge.

There is bad news for workers from Statistics Canada. It’s reporting a decline in the estimated average weekly earnings of payroll employees, but an increase in average weekly earnings for full-time employees. Total payrolls dropped dropped 0.5% in August.

Unfortunately, the decrease balanced out increases recorded in June and July. The drop was driven mainly by declines in the manufacturing sector in Ontario and Quebec. Average weekly earnings were up 0.8% from August 2002. Average hourly earnings for hourly paid employees edged down 7¢ from July to stand at $17.20.

Average hours for hourly employees declined slightly (-0.1 hours) to 32.3 hours per week. In August, the total payroll employment reported by employers decreased by 31,000 from July. Much of the decrease was recorded in Quebec (-26,200). At the industry level, losses in Quebec were widespread, but were led by manufacturing (-12,100). Employment in Ontario fell by 4,600; there were no significant changes in the other provinces.

In the U.S. investors are digesting speculation that Bank of America Corp., the third-largest U.S. bank, is poised to buy FleetBoston Financial Corp. in a $47 billion deal. The Federal Reserve is set to meet on Tuesday, which has marketwatchers waiting to see what the Fed will do with U.S. interest rates.

The Boston Globe reported that the Fed is widely expected to stand pat with the current historically low rates. Last time around the Fed announced that it would be leaving its key interest rate low for a “considerable period.”

In Asia, during Monday trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei Stock Average advanced 118.42 points, or 1.15%, to 10,454.12. Hitachi led the way up with and pulp-maker Oji paper. Investors got back in to the market after profit-takers had their way last week.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index edged up 13.35 points, or 0.1%, to 1,749.72.

In London at midday, the FTSE is up 0.51%. Frankfurt’s DAX has gained 1.8%. Paris’s CAC 40 is up 1.11%.

At the end of last week, Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite lost 35.8 points to 7,614.4. A 40¢ drop in Nortel’s share price hurt the index. It dropped to $5.45. The S&P/TSX composite lost 103 points or 1.3% on the week.

Microsoft helped push the Dow industrial average down 30.67 points to 9,582.46, for a 139 point loss over the week. The Nasdaq composite index fell 19.92 points to 1,865.59, losing almost 47 points for the week.