Wall Street futures are positive this morning foreshadowing a good morning for North American equities as the Q2 earnings season continues.

Barrick Gold and Slocan Forest Products are issuing their quarterly numbers today. Later in the week we’ll hear from Jean Coutu, Molson, EnCana, Ballard Power, Sun Life, Telus, BCE, Talisman Energy and Fairfax Financial.

Statistics Canada reported Monday that average weekly earnings for all employees were estimated at $691.38. That’s up $5.04 from April and represents a 1.8% increase from May 2002.

Year-over-year growth was strongest in Newfoundland and Labrador (+4.3%), Quebec (+3.4%), and New Brunswick (+3.3%). Manitoba (+0.8%) showed weak growth, while Alberta (0.0%) remained unchanged.

Average hourly earnings for hourly paid employees edged up 0.6% since May 2002, while their average number of paid hours rose from 31.8 to 32.6 hours over the same period.

On Wednesday, StatsCan will report the latest gross domestic product numbers.

There is no economic news coming out of the U.S. today, but on Tuesday, the U.S. Conference Board consumer confidence index comes out. The Federal Reserve beige book will be released Wednesday. U.S. second-quarter GDP data is due on Thursday and the American jobless rate will be released on Friday.

In London, the FTSE 100 index is up 0.6% early in the afternoon, rising 23.8 points to 4,155. The continental indexes have been stronger. Frankfurt’s DAX is up 1.8% and Paris has gaining 2%.

Japanese stocks started their week on a positive note, based on hopes of a revival in the American economy, and amid general relief in Asia that an attempted military coup in the Philippines has been aborted. Tokyo’s Nikkei average rose 191.90 points, or 2%, to 9,839.91.