The trading herd seems to be grazing. Futures trading is flat Tuesday as geopolitics fades into the background and uncertainty over the economy’s direction persists.

Overseas markets aren’t helping to shape the day’s trading. Europe’s bourses are mixed at midday and Asias markets closed lower overnight.

Frankfurt’s Xetra DAX index is down 10.57 points, or 0.4%, at 2889.21. London’s FTSE 100 stock index has risen slightly. It’s up 16.3 points, or 0.4%, to 3905.5. Paris’s CAC 40 index has gained 13.4 points, or 0.5%, to 2912.01.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 2.24% overnight to 7,790.46.

There was a slight decline for Canadian wholesalers in February, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday. Wholesalers posted a slight decline in February (-0.2%), selling $36.8 billion worth of goods and services. This decline ended eight consecutive months of growth. Sectors with strong ties to retail trade bore the brunt of the declines. Despite the drop in February, wholesale sales have posted relatively robust growth since November 2001, following a fairly lacklustre performance from the spring of 2000 to October 2001. Analysts don’t expect this report to have much effect on the markets.

Meanwhile, StatsCan is reported that foreign holdings of Canadian securities rose in February for the first time in three months, mainly the result of large foreign purchases of existing Canadian federal bonds. In contrast, there was a small divestment by Canadian investors in foreign equities because of weak demand by mutual funds and other institutional investors.

Coinciding with this surge in investment was a stronger Canadian dollar relative to most major currencies and a widening gap between Canadian and U.S. long-term interest rates in favour of investment in Canada. CIBC is predicting a 72¢ dollar.