North American markets will likely open flat Wednesday following yesterday’s sharp declines as oil prices fell.

The Canadian dollar tumbled more than 1.5¢ Wednesday morning, a day after the Bank of Canada decided to leave interest rates unchanged.

The central bank said it is keeping an eye on the potential effects of the falling U.S. dollar on the Canadian economy.

The Canadian dollar traded at US81.25¢ shortly before 9 a.m. ET, down 1.54¢ from Tuesday.

There are no major economic releases from the United States today.

In business news, China’s biggest computer maker, Lenovo Group, said Wednesday it has acquired a majority stake in IBM Corp.’s personal computer business for US$1.25 billion. IBM will keep an 18.5% stake in the PC business.

In earnings news, Laurentian bank will report its fourth quarter results later today.

Toronto stocks ended lower Tuesday as the market digested the Bank of Canada’s latest view of the economy, and energy and gold stocks slumped. The S&P/TSX composite index closed down 69.75 points, or 0.77%, at 8,990.95. Volume was 262.8 million shares.

The junior S&P/TSX venture composite index lost 13.04 points, or 0.76%, to end at 1,712.19.

In New York, blue-chip stocks suffered their first triple-digit decline in three weeks and the Nasdaq its biggest point loss in six weeks.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 106.48 points, or 1%, at 10,440.58 — logging its first triple-digit loss since November 19.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index slid 36.60 points, or 1.7%, to 2,114.65 — its biggest point drop since October 22.

The S&P 500 (dropped 13.18 points, or 1.1% to 1,177.07.