North American stocks appear headed for a slide Tuesday morning, a day after the Dow Jones industrial average closed above 11,000 for the first time in more than four years, and Alcoa Inc. started off the fourth-quarter earnings season with weak results.

In earnings news, Alcoa, the world’s biggest aluminum production, said its fourth-quarter earnings dropped 16%, citing a host of negative factors including U.S. Gulf Coast hurricanes and high raw-materials and energy costs.

Drug store chain Jean Coutu Group Inc. today reported a second-quarter profit of $US30.8 million, rebounding from a year-ago loss.

In M&A news, Home Depot agreed to pay US$3.19 billion to acquire Hughes Supply, a major construction-supplies distributor,

Bain Capital agreed to pay US$3 billion, or three times annual sales, for Texas Instruments’ slow-growing sensors-and-controls business.

Crude-oil prices rose 46¢ to US$63.96 a barrel in early trading Tuesday.

The Canadian dollar opened at US85.47¢, down 0.15 of a cent.

European markets were falling, with Frankfurt’s DAX 30 and London’s FTSE 100 both lower.

Asian markets closed mixed. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index plunged 303.86 points, or 1.9% to finish at 16,124.35, the first decline this year after four straight sessions of gains.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index rose 22.48 points, or 0.1%, to 15,569.91.

In Toronto, stocks closed lower Monday after a weak day in the energy sector.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 55.25, or 0.48%, to 11.565.21, its first losing session of 2006. Volume was 350 million shares.


The S&P/TSX Venture composite index finished up 5.08 points, or 0.22%, to 2,312.48.

On Wall Street, the Dow closed up 52.59 points to 11,011.90, its highest close since June 2001, boosted by a strong day for General Motors and the anticipated end of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s current policy of rate hikes.

The Dow has ended higher in each of the five sessions of 2006.

The Nasdaq composite index finished up 13.07 points to settle at 2,318, hitting a nearly five-year high, while the S&P 500 advanced 4.7 points to 1,290.15.