Wall Street futures are up this morning, pointing to a strong beginning for the trading week. There are no major economic reports due out today, however, many investors will be looking to the U.S. jobs report, which is due out on Friday. Economists are looking for some positive signs that the weak job creation trend is turning around.

Meanwhile, in Europe at midday, London’s FTSE 100 is up 22.90 points, or 0.5%, to 4,380.40. In Paris, the CAC 40 Index has gained 2.09 points, or 0.1%, to 3,594.48. In Frankfurt, the Xetra DAX Index has gained 17.20 points, or 0.5%, to 3,839.53.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei fell 52.41 points, or 0.45%, to 11,718.24 points. In Hong Kong, the blue-chip Hang Seng Index fell 55.9 points, or 0.44%, to 12,427.34. On Friday, the index lost 36.97 points, or 0.29%. Brokers are attributing the drop to concerns about Beijing’s announcement that its will “interpret” Hong Kong’s constitutional laws on the selection of a leader and legislature.

In business news, Air Canada will be back in court today to seek a one-month extension to its protection from creditors. Investor Victor Li continues to demand pension changes from the airline’s unions.

In the U.S., the Royal Bank has been served with a subpoena from New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer on allegations that it retained overpayments made by bank clients.

On Friday, Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite index slid 4.35 points to 8,509.56, completing a five-session decline of about 74 points and a third straight weekly slip. The TSX Venture Exchange rose 14.65 points to 1,863.86.

In New York, the Dow industrials closed down 5.85 at 10,212.97, though, it was up almost 26 points for the week. The Nasdaq composite index retreated 7.15 to 1,960.02 on the day but was up 19.5 points for the week. The S&P 500 slid 1.13 points to 1,108.06.