Traders waiting for U.S job data later this week

(October 26 – 09:00 EST) – Markets are mixed to positive in Europe and Asia, but the S&P futures are flat to down in pre-market trading.

While many traders are looking ahead to the jobs data due out on Thursday , the U.S. consumer confidence index is out at 10:00 ET. Analysts expect it to slip a little this month.

Four U.S. Federal Reserve Board governors are giving speeches today on various issues. Any one of them could spark some selling.

Statistics Canada is reporting that manufacturers’ shipments rose sharply in August, by 3.5% to $42 billion. As anticipated, it is attributing the big jump to an extremely strong auto industry. Excluding the auto factor, manufacturing shipments rose 1.3% in August. However you measure it, the gain in August was the sixth monthly increase in a row. The economy also saw increases in unfilled orders and inventories in August, while employment in the manufacturing sector rose 22,000 in September.

In Europe, markets are gently positive on some earnings news, some positive feeling about the German economy, and optimism surrounding the possibility of consolidation in the pharmaceuticals business. In London the FTSE 100 is up 27 points so far. The German DAX is up strongest on a percentage basis, about 0.75%, or almost 40 points. The CAC 40 is up 20 points in Paris.

Overnnight , the Japanese pushed their stocks up 23 points on the Nikkei in some cautious trading. But the dollar traded down against the Yen, sabotaging any real gains. Over in Hong Kong, traders were extremely nervous about coming U.S. economic news. They are also consolidating some previous gains and eyeing the creation of some large unit trusts with uncertainty. All of these factors conspired to push the Hang Seng index down more than 2%, closing off 237 points.

In business news, Calgary’s TransCanada Pipelines Ltd. is the big name to announce its earnings so far. It is reporting 30¢ per share in the most recent quarter, exactly what it earned in the quarter last year, although only 28¢ were earned in continuing operations. For the year to date the firm has earned $1.05 per share, up from 94¢ in the period a year ago.