North American markets are likely to open flat Tuesday, ahead of today’s highly anticipated U.S. Federal Reserve meeting.

At today’s Fed meeting, which is the last to be chaired by Alan Greenspan, economists widely expect the policy-making body to increase short-term rates by a quarter-point to 4.5%.

Investors will be looking for any signs of change in the statement regarding future monetary policy.

In this morning’s economic news, Statistics Canada said economic activity increased by 0.2% for the second consecutive month in November, mostly on the strength of retail trade, tourism-related industries, construction and a rebound in educational services.

Decreases in wholesale trade, manufacturing and utilities offset part of the gains.

The Canadian dollar opened at US87.46¢, up 0.22 of a cent.

In other economic news, U.S. consumer confidence figures for January will be released at 10:00 ET, as will the Chicago purchasing managers’ index.

Canadian Pacific Railway said strong revenue growth propelled its annual profit to a record $543 million, up 32% from 2004.

Crude-oil futures slipped 68¢ to $US67.67 a barrel in electronic trading as the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries met in Vienna. Expectations are that OPEC will leave its 28 million barrels of oil production quota unchanged.

European indexes were mixed in early action.

Overnight, Japanese stocks rose for a sixth straight day The benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 98.59 points, or 0.6%, to finish at 16,649.82 points on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Over the last six sessions, the index has surged 8.4%.

Hong Kong and several other markets remained closed for the Lunar New Year holidays.

Toronto stocks advanced for a third straight session on Monday, powering ahead more than 90 points as energy issues got a lift from higher oil prices.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 90.66 points, or 0.76%, to 11,947.47, surpassing its previous record close of 11,856.81 touched last Friday.

Rising commodity prices also gave a lift to stocks on the TSX Venture Exchange.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index advanced 25.73 points, or 1.02%, to 2,547.72.

On Wall Street, U.S. blue-chip stocks slipped, with financial services shares declining a day before the Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates — offsetting Exxon Mobil Corp.’s gain on a record profit.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 7.29 points, or 0.07%, at 10,899.92. But the S&P 500 was up 1.48 points, or 0.12%, at 1,285.20. The Nasdaq composite oindex was up 2.55 points, or 0.11%, at 2,306.78.

The Dow’s loss was limited by shares of Exxon, which climbed 3% to US$63.11 on the NYSE. The world’s biggest publicly traded oil company said quarterly profit topped US$10 billion.