North American equity markets look set to extend their rally Wednesday amid strong results from a number of companies, including tech stalwarts International Business Machines, Yahoo, and Texas Instruments.

IBM posted a first-quarter profit increase of 22% to US$1.71 billion, or $1.08 a share, and beat analysts’ estimates of $1.05 a share.

Yahoo, which reported a 22% profit decline, posted an above-consensus 33% rise in sales, when stripping out traffic acquisition costs.

TI reported a 42% increase in first-quarter profit on surging demand for chips used in mobile phones, and also offered a second-quarter forecast above market expectations.

In today’s economic news, U.S. consumer prices jumped 0.4% in March as gasoline shot up but costs for food and housing rose mildly. Core prices climbed by 0.3%.

Here at home, Statistics Canada said the growth of the leading indicator picked up to 0.6% in March, double its increase in February. The advance was spurred by ongoing gains in housing and the stock market since the start of the year.

Separately, the government agency said foreign investors purchased $2.1 billion of Canadian securities in February after buying $3 billion worth the month before. Meanwhile, Canadian investors continued to acquire foreign securities in February, buying $2.7 billion worth.

The Canadian dollar opened at US87.89¢, up 0.18 of a cent.

Oil prices retreated Wednesday from record highs on the expectation that a U.S. fuel supply report due out later in the day will show gains in crude stocks.

Light sweet crude for May delivery dropped 41¢ to US$70.94 a barrel in European electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In today’s earning’s news J.P. Morgan Chase’s profit rose 36% in the first quarter due to another strong three months of investment banking and equity trading.

Overseas markets were higher. In Asia, the Nikkei 225 closed the day up 0.7%, with technology stocks leading the way in Tokyo. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.2%, boosted by energy and property.

Markets advanced throughout Europe, with the French CAC-40 Index adding 1%, the German DAX Xetra gaining 1.1%, and the UK’s FTSE 100 rose 0.8%.

Toronto stocks rallied Tuesday, establishing a new market record, on higher oil and gold prices and indications from the U.S. Federal Reserve that its current cycle of rate hikes might finally be coming to an end.

The S&P/TSX composite index gained 137.77, or 1.12%, to 12,446.79. That handily beat the previous intraday record of 12,352 set on April 6.
The S&P/TSX Venture Exchange index gained 14.53, or 0.47%, to 3,105.84.

In New York, stocks shot up after the minutes of last month’s Fed meeting were released, indicating that most members are in favour of ending the central bank’s cycle of rate hikes.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 194.99 points, or 1.8% to 11,268.77. The Nasdaq composite index gained 44.98 points, or 2% to 2,356.14, while the S&P 500 rose 22.32 points, or 1.7% to 1,307.65.