By James Langton

(August 29 – 10:30 ET) – Traders in North America received few clues on the direction of stock prices today, with mixed overseas markets and little in the way of solid economic news.

In the U.S., the Conference Board today said its Consumer Confidence Index registered at 141.1 in August, down from a revised 143 in July and well below the record 144.7 set in January and May. The decline was slightly below the 141.4 most analysts were expecting.

And Statistics Canada today released the industrial product and raw materials price indexes for July, showing a slowing in price gains. The Industrial Product Price Index increased 4.2% from July 1999 vs gains of 5.6% in June, 5.9% in May and 6.1% in February.

Slower growth of energy costs kept the index’s growth at its lowest level since November 1999, and curbed the annual increase in raw material prices. Excluding energy prices, industrial product prices would have increased 2.0% instead of 4.2%.

The Raw Materials Price Index rose 19.9% from July 1999, thanks to higher fuel and animal product prices. This is actually lower than the 28.3% rise posted in June. Excluding fuels, the annual increase in the RMPI was only 5.5%. The RMPI declined 2.4% in July from June, far slower than economists expected. If fuels were excluded from the monthly calculation, the RMPI would have be down just -0.4%.

In Europe, equity markets are mixed so far, with miners and telecoms falling but oils gaining ground. The FTSE is up five points to 6569, the CAC 40 has dropped 14 points to 6601 and the DAX is off 45 points to 7294.

In merger news, the company that owns the Stockholm Stock Exchange, OM
Gruppen AB, has offered US$1.2 billion for the London Stock Exchange, in a bid to scuttle a proposed merger between the LSE and Deutsche Boerse AG.

Billiton PLC, the firm bidding for Rio Algom, today agreed to buy a majority stake in an Australian alumina refinery from Alcoa Inc. for US$1.49 billion. Its stock is heading lower on the news and pushing down most miners on fears of a costly round of industry consolidation.

In other Canada-related M&A news, Finnish forestry firm UPM-Kymmene is
bidding US$108 million for Repap.

BCE Emergis is buying InvoiceLink Corp. for US$88.3 million to enhance its Internet-based payment and invoicing systems for the financial services industry.

Overnight in Asia, stocks were mixed yet again. The Nikkei dropped 39 points to 17141 on data showing the Japanese consumer is slowing the recovery. The Hang Seng, meanwhile, added 220 points to 17240.

In other business news, Nortel Networks will launch some new fiber-optic network technology at a trade show in Denver today.