Stocks may open flat Wednesday morning amid a drop in crude-oil prices and disappointing earnings from online retailer Amazon.com.

Oil prices slid 24¢ to US$62.20 a barrel in early trading Wednesday ahead of petroleum supply data expected to show that crude stocks rose.

Amazon reported late Tuesday that its third-quarter profit fell 44%, crimped by a legal settlement. Amazon’s shares were off 5.1% in premarket trading Wednesday.

Also Tuesday, TSX Group Inc. reported sharp gains in third-quarter revenue and profits while disclosing an accounting change that pulls down its results and will cause a restatement of prior years.

There are no major economic reports from Canada or the United States today.

The Canadian dollar opened at US84.89¢, down 0.16 of a cent.

In other market news, an Alberta court has approved the US$4.2-billion takeover of PetroKazakhstan Inc. by China National Petroleum Corp., the Calgary-based oil-gas company announced Wednesday.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei 225 ended 0.9% higher at 13,395.02.

European markets were boosted by DaimlerChrysler’s third-quarter results, Anglo American’s restructuring plan and gains in resource stocks. London’s FTSE 100 recently rose 1%.

Toronto stocks ended essentially flat Tuesday, as losses in financials and technology sector mostly offset a winning day in the energy group.

The S&P/TSX composite index ticked up 2.95, or 0.03%, to 10,363.74, after touching a high of 10,428.17 during intraday trading.

Volume on the senior exchange was 235 million shares.

EnCana Corp. announced Gwyn Morgan will step down as CEO at the end of the year to be replace by current COO Randall Eresman. Its shares rose $1.29, or 2.16%, to $61.00.

The financials group was off 0.72%. Toronto-Dominion Bank was off 52¢, or 0.94%, to $55.05.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index finished up 11.91 points, or 0.60%, to 2,005.13.

In New York, rising oil prices plus indications that consumer confidence is falling worked against the markets’ favour.

The Dow Jones composite index fell 7.13 points, or 0.07%, to 10,377.87, the S&P 500 index dropped 2.84, or 0.24%, to 1,196.54, and the Nasdaq composite index lost 6.38, or 0.3%, to 2,109.45.