Wall Street index futures indicate stocks will open lower, but Canadian investors are starting the day with some cautiously good news on manufacturing.

Statistics Canada says manufacturers are cautiously optimistic regarding the outlook for the first quarter of 2004, after coping with a series of economic blows in 2003 — SARS, mad cow disease and the power blackout. Business confidence is improving, says StatsCan, and manufacturers say they’re more satisfied with production, finished products inventory levels and orders received.

In January, 30% of manufacturers stated they would increase production in the first quarter, while 15% expected to decrease production. Manufacturers in all provinces were positive about production prospects for the coming three months.

In the U.S., two pieces of economic data are expected at 10:00 ET this morning. Investors will get reports on December factory orders, and the Institute of Supply Management will release its January report on the services sector .

In other news expected to affect the markets, BCE Inc. is reporting that it earned $386 million or 41¢ per share in the final quarter of 2003. That was down from the year-earlier profit of $1.7 billion or $1.88 a share — swollen by a $1.4-billion gain from the sale of the phone-books business. Quarterly revenue declined to $4.9 billion from just over $5 billion.

The Bank of Montreal is expanding its Chicago-area Harris Bank operation with a takeover of New Lenox State Bank, an eight-branch suburban bank, for $306 million.

In U.S. news, network equipment maker Cisco Systems exceeded Wall Street expectations with three-month earnings of US$724 million as sales jumped 14.5% to US$5.4 billion. But company executives remained cautious.

Meanwhile in Europe, London’s FTSE 100 is down 0.2%. Investors are expecting a25 basis-point interest rate increase. Paris’s CAC-40 is down 0.8%. Frankfurt’s DAX is down 0.9%.

In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei stock average fell 194.67 points, or 1.8%, to 10,447.25, on selling of banks, technology companies and automaker stocks. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index slid 3.28 points to 13,086.73.

Yesterday, the Dow Jones industrial average finished up 6.00 points, or 0.06%, at 10,505.18. The S&P 500 Index crept up 0.77 of a point, or 0.07%, at 1,136.03. The Nasdaq composite index gained 3.06 points, or 0.15%, to close at 2,066.21.

The Toronto Stock Exchange rose 20.81 points to 8,660.70.