U.S. brokers are facing a weak open for stocks following the Memorial Day weekend.

Analysts say SARS is weighing on the Canadian dollar — the currency is trading at US72.75¢, down 0.08 of cent from Monday’s close, while other currencies continued to rise against the U.S. dollar.

The American greenback hit new lows against the euro in overnight and early morning trading today.

In overnight trading both Japan’s Nikkei index and the Hang Seng index fell, ending their respective three and four day rallies triggered by optimism that SARS is under control in the territory. The Nikkei closed down 1.3% with a 107.08-point loss to 8,120.24. The Hang Seng index fell 71.90 points to 9,420.81.

In London the FTSE 100 index is down 1.2% early in afternoon trading, losing 48.6 points to 3,931.2.

Closer to home, Toronto finds itself back on the World Health Organization list of places affected by SARS, a move which threatens to further depress tourism.

Meanwhile the Canadian Auto Workers is the first of Air Canada’s unions to accept a new labour agreement which will result in 427 immediate job cuts with another 400 workers slated for layoff or early retirement in the coming months.

On the farm front, investigators are still trying to trace the outbreak of mad cow disease in Alberta. Several hundred cows from the related herd have already been slaughtered.

the 2002 net farm income report from Statistics Canada.

In economic news, livestock receipts fell 4.6% to $18 billion in 2002, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday. That’s the first decline since 1998, as prices for major commodities slumped after peaking in 2001.

Overall, net cash income — the difference between a farmer’s cash receipts and operating expenses — fell 10.6% to $7.7 billion in 2002 in the wake of back-to-back droughts, higher feed grain costs. The fall comes after record highs in 2001. Despite the decline, cash receipts from livestock were still 12.3% above the previous five-year average.

In earnings news, quarterly reports are expected from both the Bank of Montreal and the Bank of Nova Scotia later today.