North American stocks may idle at the opening bell, amid continued wariness about oil prices and light summer trading levels.

Crude-oil futures fell sharply Tuesday for the third straight session, as Iraq restored recently disrupted exports. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, October crude futures fell US84¢ to $45.21 a barrel.

Overnight, two Russian airliners crashed almost simultaneously after taking off from the same Moscow airport, raising fears of a terrorist strike. However, initial crash-site investigations showed no sign of terrorism.

In this morning’s economic news, Statistics Canada said the growth of the composite leading index moderated to 0.6% in July after rising 1% in May and June, their largest gains in two years.

South of the border, demand for U.S. durable goods in strengthened last month, underpinned by a surge in orders for non-defense aircraft and a solid gain in capital spending.

The Commerce Department said orders for durable goods rose 1.7% to $195.6 billion in July, after a revised 1.1% gain in June. Economists had forecast a 1% increase in orders. Orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, a barometer of business spending, climbed 0.6% after a 1.4% jump in June.

In today’s earnings news, Bombardier Inc. said second-quarter profit slid to US$23 million from US$68 million a year ago, but showed a sharp improvement from the first quarter’s US$174 million loss. Earnings for the quarter ended July 31 amounted to 1¢ a share, compared with 4¢ share a year earlier.

CIBC reports its third quarter earnings later today.

Yesterday, Bank of Montreal said its third-quarter profit rose 30% on strong credit performance.

Net income for the quarter was a record $654 million, or $1.24 per share, up from $504 million, or 95¢, in the year-before period.

BMO shares climbed $1.15 on the TSX to close at $53.80.

In other banking news,the Financial Times reported that TD Bank is in advanced talks to take control of Banknorth, an American banking company operating in the New England states, in a cash and stock deal that would be worth more than US$2.2 billion.

Overnight in Asian, markets closed higher. Japan’s Nikkei jumped 144.69 points, or 1.32%, to 11,130.02.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index climbed 146.54 points, or 1.16% to finish at 12,793.03.

Easing oil prices helped boost Wall Street, while financial shares managed to keep Bay Street out of the red on Tuesday.

Toronto’s S&P/TSX closed virtually unchanged — off just 0.93 points, or 0.01%, at 8,316.4, with more than 266.8 million shares trading hands. The TSX Venture Exchange was off 8.09 points, or 0.53%, at 1,507.29.

Air Canada was the TSX’s most active stock. It fell 75% to just 5¢ on news it would be delisted from the exchange as of Wednesday. More than 70.1 million shares traded hands.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average closed up 25.58 points, or 0.25%, to 10,098.63. Trading was light. The S&P 500 gained 0.51 of a point, or 0.05%, at 1,096.19, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index was off 1.81 points, or 0.10%, to 1,836.89.