Stocks are pointing to a higher opening today, with U.S. corpoate earnings leading the way.

The big news in Canada is the decision by the Bank of Canada to raise interest rates 25 basis points. Analysts were split over whether the Bank needed to raise rates now.

In the U.S., the Consumer Price Index came in up 0.3% on the headline, and up 0.1% on the core rate. The numbers were more or less in line, so there has not been much market reaction. U.S. housing starts fell 7.8% in March, disappointing traders.

There’s also plenty of big earnings news out today. FleetBoston Financial Corp. saw its profits drop sharply, and it pledged to sell its securities division, Robertson Stephens Inc.

General Motors Corp. saw its quarterly profit down, but it issued an optimistic forecast for the rest of 2002. Coca-Cola Co. reported a first-quarter loss of US$125 million. And banking giant, Bank One Corp., saw its first quarter profit increase 16%.

Stocks are also getting a boost from news that Texas Instruments Inc. and Novellus Systems Inc. said orders are picking up.

In Europe, stocks are generally up this morning. Royal Philips Electronics NV, Europe’s largest consumer electronics maker firm saw a return to profitability in the first quarter, and claims to see increasing demand. This sort of sentiment is boosting stocks.

The FTSE has gained 22 points to 5,223. The CAC 40 has added 61 points to 4,564. The DAX is up 50 points to 5,294.

Overnight in Asia, stocks rose, too. Traders are hoping that a credit rating downgrade from Standard & Poor’s will finally get the Japanese government to take serious steps to clean up the economy and the banking system. The Nikkei closed up 209 points to 11,347. The Hang Seng added 61 points to 10,789.

In M&A news, Finning International Inc. has entered into an agreement to buy 50 million units of Maxim Power Corp. for $15 million.

In earnings news, Alcan Inc. saw its first quarter consolidated net income fall to US$107 million from US$163 million in the first quarter of 2001.

QLT Inc. reported global sales of its Visudyne product rose 42.5% over the first quarter of 2001, and is ahead of analysts’ expectations.

AEterna recorded a net loss of $5.7 million for the quarter, which compares to a net loss of $3.2 million for the same period in 2001.

Centrinity Inc. said that it expects a second quarter loss of approximately $2.9 million as compared to an $8.2 million loss in the same quarter of 2001.