U.S. stock index futures pointed to a modestly higher open Wednesday, as traders awaited congressional testimony by U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.

Bernanke will discuss the health of the economy, in which many private-sector economists believe a recession is underway and may be deepening.

Meanwhile, a U.S. private sector employment report, an important precursor to government jobs data due Friday, showed a modest 8,000-job increase in private hiring during March, better than the 70,000-job contraction economists had expected.

In other economic news, U.S. factory orders fell a second month in a row during February.

Orders for manufactured goods decreased 1.3%, following a revised 2.3% drop in January, the U.S. Commerce Department said today. Originally, factory orders were seen 2.5% lower in January.

Economists had forecast factory goods orders coming in 0.8% lower in February.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

The Canadian dollar opened at US98.31¢, up 0.43 cent on top of Tuesday’s 0.46-cent gain.

In today’s earnings news, Best Buy said fourth-quarter net income fell 3.4% as same-store sales and profit margins dipped for the electronics chain amid the weakening economy. But the retailer forecast also higher earnings later in the year.

In M&A news, National City shares rose in pre-market trading after The Wall Street Journal reported that the Ohio bank is considering a plan to sell itself to hometown rival KeyCorp.

Crude oil was up 75¢ at US$101.73 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while gold bullion recovered US$7.10 to US$894.90 an ounce.

Asian stock markets showed big gains, following through on a boisterously positive session Tuesday on Wall Street.

Tokyo’s Nikkei index gained 4.2%, rising 532.94 points to 13,189.36, and the Hong Kong market’s Hang Seng index advanced 3.2%.

European bourses also moved higher. The FTSE 100 up 10 points or 0.2% to 5,862.60 near midday in London, while Frankfurt’s DAX added 0.4% and the Paris CAC 40 was up 0.5%.



Sinking gold prices hit Toronto stocks Tuesday, but strength in the financials sector kept the S&P/TSX composite index above the water line for a second day in a row.

The benchmark index closed up 90.59 points, or 0.68%, at 13,440.72.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index closed down 23.70 points, or 0.94%, at 2,493.86.

In New York, markets rallied hard on better-than-expected manufacturing activity data and news that Swiss bank UBS that it is planning to issue US$15 million in new shares.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 391.47 points, or 3.19%, to end at 12,654.36. The S&P 500 gained 47.48 points, or 3.59%, to close at 1,370.18.

Meanwhile, the tech-heavy Nasdaq closed up 83.65 points, or 3.67%, at 2,362.75.