North American stocks may open higher Wednesday after U.S. retail sales unexpectedly climbed in January.

Retail sales increased by 0.3%, the U.S. Commerce Department said Wednesday. Sales went down an unrevised 0.4% in December.

Economists had forecast a 0.4% decline in January retail sales.

January sales were given a boost by demand for cars and gasoline.

Data on December inventories is due for release at 10:00 ET.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

The Canadian dollar opened at US100.05¢ this morning, up about nearly one-fifth of a cent from Tuesday’s close.

In today’s earnings news, Coca-Cola reported its fourth-quarter net income jumped 79%, reflecting year earlier charges as the company continued its volume growth world-wide and posted modest gains in North America.

Deere said fiscal first-quarter net income ballooned 55% on strong earnings at its massive agricultural equipment unit, particularly in the international sector, However, the firm also issued a lower-than-expected second-quarter forecast.

The world’s biggest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal, posted a 3% rise in annual profit. Meanwhile, Rio Tinto reported a solid profit and said it is poised for faster growth than BHP Billiton, whose US$147.4 billion all-share takeover offer it has rejected.

Later in the day reports are due from such companies such as DirecTV, Vonage, Genzyme, and MGIC Investment.

Crude oil rose 19¢ to US$92.97 a barrel in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average closed up 0.16%. In morning trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.8%, Germany’s DAX index lost 0.66% and France’s CAC-40 fell 0.47%.

Gold and energy shares pulled Toronto stocks down in afternoon trading Tuesday, as gold prices tumbled.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 43.54 points, or 0.33%, at 13,087.38.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index ended the session down 4.74 points, or 0.19%, at 2,536.79.

In New York, U.S. stocks rallied after billionaire Warren Buffett announced his Berkshire Hathaway’s offer to reinsure up to US$800 billion in municipal bonds, and the U.S. government announced a move to help American homeowners facing foreclosure.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 133.40 points, or 1.09%, at 12,373.41.

The S&P 500 rose 9.73 points, or 0.73%, to 1,348.86.

But the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index slipped 0.02 points at 2,320.04.