North American markets were mixed Tuesday morning amid economic and merger news on both sides of the border.

At midday, the S&P/TSX was off 14.73 points or 0.16% at 9045.97, while the TSX Venture Exchange 1.98 or 0.11% to 1723.25. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 3.84 or 0.04% at 10550.90. The broader gauges were narrowly higher. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 0.15 or 0.01% to 1190.4, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 2.70 or 0.13% to 2153.95.

The Canadian dollar was down 0.53 of a cent at US82.75¢ after the central bank left its key rate unchanged at 2.5%. The Bank of Canada decided not to raise the rate because the C$ has appreciated dramatically since the end of last summer.

The decline of the loonie came even the U.S. dollar hit another record low against the euro as investors remained concerned about U.S. trade and budget deficits.

Meanwhile, the price of light, sweet crude for January delivery was down 41¢ to US$42.57 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil rose for the first time in two weeks Monday after a terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, and worries that OPEC might cut production.

On Bay Street, energy stocks lead the TSX lower, falling 1.12%. Eight of the index’s 13 sub-groups were in the red.

Gold stocks were up 0.51% on the strength of Wheaton River Minerals Ltd. and Goldcorp Inc., which announced on Sunday they were merging. Wheaton River was unchanged on heavy volume, while Goldcorp added 0.29%.

Shares in Iamgold Corp. were off 5.29% after shareholders in South Africa’s Gold Fields Ltd. rejected a US$2.1-billion plan to merge the firm’s non-southern African assets with the Toronto company.

Tech stocks jumped 1.06% as Nortel Networks Corp. gained 2.95% with more than 4.7 million shares trading hands.

On Wall Street, investors weighed mixed economic data and rumors about big merger deals, including a report that consumer products giant Johnson & Johnson’s is in talks to purchase a leading medical device maker.

Analysts said the lackluster trading was characteristic of the first part of December, when a lull often precedes an end-of-year rally. But there’s no guarantee the market will benefit from the so-called “Santa Claus” effect this year, as stocks already have posted a significant advance over the last two months and now appear somewhat overextended.

The U.S. government reported that worker productivity grew at a 1.8 percent annual rate in the third quarter, the slowest pace in nearly two years. Some saw the deceleration as a sign that employers have squeezed as many efficiencies out of their existing workers as they can, and may finally increase hiring to meet customer demand.

The Labor Department’s latest snapshot of productivity — the amount an employee produces for every hour of work — was lower than previously thought, and marked a sharp pullback from the 3.9 percent pace logged in the second quarter.

Johnson & Johnson sagged 1.23% on reports that the drug and health care products company is in advanced talks to buy Guidant Corp., a leading maker of devices to treat heart and circulatory illnesses. The New York Times, citing executives close to the negotiations, said the proposed deal was valued at more than $24 billion. Guidant soared 5.5% on the news.

Colgate-Palmolive Co. rose 5.7% after the maker of consumer products such as Ajax detergent, Irish Spring soap and Hill’s Science Diet pet foods, announced plans to cut its worldwide work force by about 12 percent and close one-third of its factories as part of a four-year plan to boost sales and profits.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average slid 0.99%. In afternoon trading in Europe, France’s CAC-40 added 0.79%, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.38% and Germany’s DAX index rose 0.69%.