North American markets are expected to open little changed Tuesday, as investors await more earnings news and testimony from Federal Reserve Board chief Alan Greenspan later today.

Here at home, the Bank of Canada announced this morning that is keeping its target for the overnight rate at 2%. The decision was widely expected by economists. However, most analysts expect the central bank to raise rates in September.

In other economic news, Statistics Canada said that wholesale sales rose for a third consecutive month in May, edging up 0.3% to $37.4 billion worth of goods and services.

Meanwhile, the leading indicator grew 1.1% in June, comparable with the 1.2% advance in May—the largest increases since spring 2002, StatsCan said.

Traders are also looking ahead to today’s cabinet shuffle in Ottawa. Finance Minister Ralph Goodale is expected to retain his post.

South of the border, U.S. housing starts plummeted 8.5% in June, the biggest tumble in more than a year, as mortgage rates crept upward and hiring weakened. Building permits also fell sharply.

In this morning’s earnings news, Canadian National Railway Co. reported a 34% increase in quarterly profit on increased grain traffic and market share gains.

Charles Sshwab’s CEO resigned, as the company reported a 10% drop in earnings in the second quarter, blaming customer reluctance to trade stocks. Charles R. Schwab was named to succeed David Pottruck.

Asian markets closed lower overnight. Tokyo’s Nikkei was down 177.63, or 1.6%, to 11258.37, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 43.32 points to 12,123.63.

Toronto stocks closed on the upside Monday, mostly with the support of energy and financial stocks, while earnings pessimism took the wind out of the sails of U.S. markets.

Toronto’s S&P/TSX composite finished the day ahead by 64.34 points at 8414.8, while the junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index closed down 18.34 points, or 1.17%, at 1543.30.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average gave up 45.72 points or 0.45% to 10,113.38, while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were essentially flat. The S&P 500 closed down 0.49 points at 1,100.9, while the Nasdaq edged up 0.68 of a point to 1,883.83.

On Bay Street, financial stocks were up 1.44%, with CIBC and Sun Life Financial among the most active. Sun Life named a new president of its Canadian operations to succeed Robert Astley, who was retiring after helping lead the merger of Sun Life and his former company, Clarica Life two years ago.

Shares in brewer Molson jumped 85¢ to $33.45 as more than 1.5 million shares traded. The stock was fueled by reports of a possible merger with American brewing giant Adolph Coors. The Wall Street Journal reported there are several hurdles in front of a deal, including a feud among Molson family members.