U.S. stock futures pointed to solid gains Wednesday, after strong results from tech bellwethers Intel and Yahoo, and a government reported showed a modest increase in U.S. consumer prices.

Intel, the world’s No. 1 chip maker, reported a 43% jump in third-quarter profit late Tuesday, topping expectations thanks to a robust personal-computer market.

Yahoo reported a 4.6% drop in quarterly profit and 12% revenue gain. Yahoo’s 11¢ a share profit comfortably topped market expectations for earnings of 8¢ a share.

In today’s economic news, the U.S. consumer price index rose 0.3% in September, reversing August’s 0.1% decline. The core CPI, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, advanced 0.2%.

Here at home, Statistics Canada reported that wholesale sales fell 2% to an estimated $43.2 billion in August.

Weaker sales of automotive products and machinery and electronic equipment pushed wholesale sales lower, completely offsetting the gains of 1.8% in July and 0.3% in June.

The Canadian dollar opened at US102.3¢, up 0.26 of a cent.

In today’s earnings news, J.P. Morgan Chase posted a 2.3% increase in third-quarter net income despite US$1.3 billion in write-downs on leveraged loans and surging credit-loss provisions as the company’s asset-management and back-office businesses had record results.

Coca-Cola’s quarterly profit rose 13% amid continued strength overseas and a small increase in shipments for its little-growing North American market.

International Business Machines’ quarterly profit rose 6.3% as growth in its long-troubled services business overcame declines in hardware.

Crude-oil prices dropped slightly, falling 26¢ to US$87.35 a barrel, after hitting a record high in the previous session.

Overseas, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.91% Germany’s DAX index rose 0.08% and France’s CAC-40 rose 0.73%.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng rose 344.16 points, or 1.2%, to 29,298.71.

Japan’s Nikkei stock average closed down 1.07%.

The Toronto stock market slid lower Tuesday, dragged down by declines in financial and resource issues.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 78.25 points, or 0.6%, at 14,153.03.

The heavyweight financial sector was down 1.2%.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index inched up 0.43 of a point to 3,014.84.

The Canadian dollar slumped after the Bank of Canada left its key interest rate at 4.5%.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 71.86 points, or 0.51%, to end at 13,912.94. The S&P 500 slid 10.18 points, or 0.66%, to 1,538.54. The Nasdaq composite index dropped 16.14 points, or 0.58%, to 2,763.91.