By James Langton

(September 11 – 09:00 ET) – Canadian housing starts fell 11.8% in August to 146,000 units from 165,600 in July, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. Economists were expecting a slightly more moderate slide, to around 160,000. Urban singles starts were down 4.7%, urban multiples were down 23.4%. Either way the market should shrug off the news, which gives some credence to a slowing economy.

The bigger economic news is that over the weekend OPEC ministers agreed to boost production by slightly more than expected to 800,000 barrels per day.

Despite the weakening in the oil crunch, stocks are mostly down on profit fears. Telecoms and pharmaceuticals are leading the way down.

A meeting of the European finance ministers this weekend failed to produce anything of interest. The FTSE is off 59 points to 6,541. The CAC 40 is down 28 ticks to 6,676, and the DAX is off 49 points to 7,218.

A couple of huge M&A deals are in the news today. First off, Hewlett-Packard is reportedly in talks to acquire PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP’s management and information-technology consulting business for as much as US$18 billion in cash and stock. The deal isn’t done yet ,and PWC is said to be considering its options, including a possible IPO, but the HP deal is the front-runner for now.

Another deal that is being discussed is a joint venture involving BCE Inc. and the Thomson family to create a media powerhouse marrying CTV, TSN and Sympatico with the Globe and Mail and Toronto’s professional hockey and basketball franchises.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is confirming that it will buy Wall Street firm Spear, Leeds & Kellogg LP for US$2.1 billion in cash and US$4.4 billion in stock.

Elan Corp., Ireland’s largest drug firm, is buying Dura Pharmaceuticals Inc. for US$1.8 billion in stock to double the size of its U.S. sales force.

Also on the merger front, Glaxo Wellcome plc and SmithKline Beecham plc are delaying their proposed merger for U.S. antitrust regulators.

Overnight in Asia stocks slipped sharply, with techs leading the way. The Nikkei closed down 371 points to 16,130. The Hang Seng dropped 267 points to 17,008.

In other business news, Britain’s Granada Media is buying a 45% stake in Irish broadcaster TV3 from CanWest Global Communications Corp for US$28.44 million in cash. CanWest retains another 45%.

724 Solutions is announcing a deal with MsMoney.com to deliver content aggregation services and it has introduced its new LiveClips prodcut.

The Loewen Group Inc. says that holders of its First Preferred Shares, Series C have brought a motion seeking an order which would allow conversion of their shares into common shares. These shares are convertible into around 80 million common shares, more than the 74 million outstanding. The Ontario Superior Court of Justice is scheduled to consider the motion on September 29.