##??#erican markets are expected to open slightly higher Friday as positive U.S. economic news overshadows corporate earnings troubles.

The U.S. Commerce Department said personal income rose 0.4% in December, compared with a gain of 0.3% in November. Economists had forecast an increase of 0.2%.

Personal spending increased 0.9% for the month, while a reading for November was revised to up 0.4% from the 0.5% gain originally reported.

Statistics Canada is reporting that Canada’s economic expansion took a pause in November, as gross domestic product edged up 0.1%, following a 0.3% gain in October.

In Europe, insurance and technology stocks are dragging markets lower.

London’s FTSE 100 index has shed 61 points to 3517.6. Frankfurt’s DAX index is down 61.67 points at 2632.11.
Paris’s CAC 40 index is off 55.29 points to 2858.84.

Trading was muted in the Asia Friday as most markets were closed in observance of Lunar New Year. Financial markets in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Korea and Taiwan were closed for the holiday. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 inched up 0.28% to 8,339.94.

In earnings news, TSX Group Inc., the owner of Canada’s stock markets, enjoyed a 150% year-over-year profit gain in the final three months of 2002, its first quarter as a publicly traded company. Its full-year earnings increase was 78%, while the benchmark S&P/TSX index lost just over 1,000 points, or 14%.