Stocks are pointing to an up opening this morning on news that the U.S. economy is still avoiding recession.

Second quarter U.S. GDP was revised down from 0.7% growth to 0.2%, but there was some fear that it would be revised into the negative.

Still, the U.S. economy is growing at its slowest pace in more than eight years, and corporate profits fell for their third straight quarter.

In Canada, the growth in industrial product prices slowed in July, but raw materials prices declined. The Industrial Product Price Index grew 0.9% from July 2000 to July 2001, compared with a year-over-year gain of 1.6% in June.

The annual increase in the IPPI has been decelerating since April. Petroleum and coal product prices declined 6.8% in July, so if the impact of these prices were excluded, the IPPI would have risen 1.6% instead of 0.9%. On a month-to-month basis, industrial prices slipped 0.6% from June.

Mineral fuels were responsible for most of the decline in the Raw Materials Price Index in July, along with decreases for wood products and non-ferrous metals. If mineral fuels were excluded, the RMPI would have fallen 1% in July on a year-over-year basis instead of dropping 2.0%.

In Europe, stocks are mostly weaker today thanks to economic worries. Names such as DaimlerChrysler AG and Gucci Group NV are leading the slide today.

Uncertainty about tomorrow’s rate decision in Europe is also spooking traders, particularly after European Central Bank council member Ernst Welteke said it’s not the bank’s job to fine-tune economic growth. The FTSE is down 18 points to 5,417. The CAC 40 has dropped less than a point to 4,815. The DAX is down just two points to 5,306.

Overnight in Asia, stocks simply followed the U.S. market lower. The Nikkei dropped 210 points to 10,980. The Hang Seng surrendered 58 points to close at 11,242.

In M&A news, Mead Corp. has agreed to merge with rival Westvaco Corp. in a US$10 billion stock swap.

AirGate PCS Inc is buying closely-held iPCS Inc. for about US$900 million in stock and debt.