North American stocks appear set to rebound Wednesday from heavy losses in the previous session, with attention turning to the minutes from the last U.S. Federal Reserve meeting for clues on whether the rate increases will come to a halt.

The minutes are due at 14:00 ET.

Here at home, Statistics Canada said economic activity picked up in the first quarter as real gross domestic product rose 0.9% amid continued strength in investment and personal expenditure. It says monthly output in March edged up 0.1% over February.

The Canadian dollar opened at US91.37 cents, up 0.49 of a cent and trading at levels not seen in almost 30 years. The currency hasn’t closed above US91¢ since January 1978.

On the M&A front, Falconbridge said it continues to support the buyout bid of Inco, and not that of 20% Anglo-Swiss holder Xstrata.

Xstrata, which is Falconbridge’s biggest shareholder, has made a $16.1 billion all-cash offer for the company, contingent on cancellation of nickel giant Inco’s $19 billion, stock-swap bid.

Overall, European markets shook off early losses to break a two-session decline.

In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index plunged 392.12 points, or 2.47%, to 15,467.33 points, the lowest since Feb. 20. The index has now tumbled 10.6% since May 9, when its slide began.

Markets in Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea were closed for national holidays.

North American stocks dropped Tuesday, as investor sentiment turned negative following last week’s bounce back in equity prices.

The S&P/TSX composite index lost 140.07, or 1.18%, to 11,705.41.

Seven of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were down, with the energy index giving up 2.43% and the materials sector losing 2.22%.

The S&P/TSX Venture Exchange index ended down 37.43, or 1.31%, to 2,826.20.

In New York, investors turned decidedly bearish on worries over a falling dollar, higher oil prices and a un-encouraging sales forecast from retailer Wal-Mart.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 184.18 points, or 1.63%, with all 30 components down for the first time since September 2004. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 45.63 points to 2,164.74 and the S&P 500 Index fell 20.29 points to 1,259.87.