Stocks look set to recover from Friday’s sell-off following the release the weak U.S. jobs report.

At the end of last week, the December jobs report showed that job creation is missing from the U.S. economic recovery and that sent stocks spiraling, but analysts are predicting better performance this week, as the U.S. earnings season starts.

No major company is set to report today, though, SunTrust, the tenth biggest U.S. bank by assets, says it earned US$1.21 per share in the fourth quarter, US2¢ above market expectations.

Here at home Statistics Canada is reporting that the value of building permits issued by municipalities fell for the second month in a row in November. The decline was the result of weakness in all three components of the non-residential sector. Builders took out $4.1 billion worth of permits, down 3.9% from October. This followed a 5% decline the month before.

Construction intentions in the non-residential sector declined 12.1% to $1.3 billion, the lowest level in 19 months. All three components — industrial, commercial and institutional — experienced a second consecutive month of weakening. Among the provinces, Ontario recorded the largest drop in non-residential intentions.

But there is good news in a separate report from StatsCan. The New Housing Price Index advanced 0.7% in November, up from October’s increase of 0.4%. This is the highest monthly rise since February 2002 and reflects a continued strong new housing market.

On a 12-month basis, this index of contractors’ selling prices rose 5%, unchanged from October’s annual increase. Six of the surveyed centres registered no change and there were no monthly decreases.

The equity markets in Europe are down at midday. Reports of accounting problems at job services giant Adecco have hurt London’s FTSE index, which is down 0.17%. Frankfurt’s DAX has dropped 0.6% and Paris’s CAC 40 is off 0.35%.

Japan’s financial markets were closed Monday for a national holiday. Prices on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange fell, snapping a 10-session winning streak. The Hang Seng Index slid 33.58 points, or 0.25%, to 13,352.22.

On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average tumbled 133.55 points to 10,458.89, cutting its gain for the week to 49 points or less than half of 1%. The Nasdaq fell 13.33 points to 2,086.92, but finished the week up 4%. The S&P 500 index dropped 10.06 points.

In Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite closed down 34.23 points at 8,352.19, for a gain of 58.5 points or 0.7% on the week. The TSX Venture Exchange added 17.71 points to 1,804.57, gaining 2.2% for the week.