Investors will be mulling over another U.S. inflation report and positive earnings from tech bellwether Hewlett-Packard Co. when markets open Wednesday.

The U.S consumer-price index rose 0.5% last month, after going up 0.6% in March, the U.S. Labor Department said today. The core index, which excludes food and energy items, was flat, after climbing 0.4% the month prior. It was the smallest change in the core since a flat reading in November 2003.

Economists had called for a 0.4% increase in the overall CPI and a 0.2% gain in the core.

The report came a day after the U.S. Labor Department reported wholesale prices rose a higher-than-expected 0.6% in April.

Here at home, Canadian wholesale sales increased for the fifth time in six months in March, rising 0.5% to $39.1 billion, Statistics Canada reported today.

Most of the growth was attributable to increased demand for current consumption goods and continuing strong demand for machinery and electronic equipment among businesses, the government agency said.

In a separate release, StatsCan said foreign investors continued purchasing Canadian securities in March acquiring $1.9 billion, mostly in Canadian equities.

Meanwhile Canadian investors were once again quite active, acquiring $3.6 billion of foreign securities. The investment in March went mostly to foreign bonds.

In earnings news, Hewlett-Packard said fiscal second-quarter profit rose 9.3% despite a slowdown at its printer unit. Revenue rose 7.2% to $21.57 billion, slightly exceeding expectations.

On Tuesday, resource stocks pushed Toronto markets to solid gains Tuesday, while U.S. markets got a boost after the Bush administration pressured China to overhaul its currency system.

At close, the S&P/TSX composite index was up 48.12 points or 0.52% at 9,371.40. The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index lipped 4.18 points or 0.26% to 1,593.63.

On Wall Street, the Dow industrial average jumped 79.59 points or 0.78% to 10,331.88. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite added 9.72 points or 0.49% at 2,004.15, while the S&P 500 index was up 8.11 points or 0.7% to 1,173.8.

The Canadian dollar reversed direction, moving 0.23 of a cent higher to US78.99¢ late in the session after high-profile Tory MP Belinda Stronach defected to the Liberals.