North American stocks may open lower Tuesday morning as investors sit on the sidelines ahead of a crucial interest-rate decision later this week. Oil prices rose, and U.S. confidence and existing-home sales reports are on tap.

The U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate-setting committee meets for two days beginning Wednesday and will issue their decision on rates Thursday afternoon. They are expected to raise their target rate by a quarter-percentage point to 5.25%, though worries about a bigger increase have arisen after recent signs of higher inflation.

Crude-oil prices rose 51¢ to US$72.31 a barrel in early trading Tuesday as the suspension of refinery productions along the Gulf Coast due to a shipping snag.

The Canadian dollar opened at US89.02¢, down 0.05 of a cent.

On the data front, the Conference Board’s index of U.S. consumer confidence in June is seen easing to 103.1 from 103.2, and existing-home sales are seen falling to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 6.64 million units from 6.76 million. Both reports are scheduled for release at 10:00 ET.

Among stocks to watch, Nortel Networks is cutting 1,900 more and creating 800 overseas in restructuring moves intended to improve profitability. The telecom equipment maker said today it will also overhaul its pension plans by moving employees into more predictable defined-contribution programs, from defined-benefit plans.

Nova Chemicals Corp. is cutting 375 jobs and spinning off its styrene operations into a separate company in an effort to reduce costs and become more efficient.

General Motors will be in focus after saying late Monday that 35,000 employees agreed to accept its early retirement package or buyouts.

There was another run of M&A deals announced Tuesday.

Saxon Energy Services Inc. said it is is paying $61.5 million for Kinnell Drilling Ltd. and Kinnell Resource Consultants, in a move to expand its drilling business in Canada.

Assicurazioni Generali agreed to acquire smaller Italian insurer Toro Assicurazioni for as much as 3.85 billion euros (US$4.82 billion), solidifying its dominant position in Italy, but the company said its expansion plans still lie in Eastern and Central Europe.

Barr Pharmaceuticals agreed to buy Croatian drug maker Pliva for US$2.2 billion.

Duke Energy agreed to sell its power and gas trading unit Cinergy to Fortis for US$414 million.

Vivendi said Tuesday that it sold its entire 16.4 million-share stake in DuPont for US$671 million, or US$40.82 a share.

Arcelor rallied in Paris trade on speculation that Russia’s Severstal may come back with a better bid than what Mittal Steel agreed to pay for the steelmaker.

European indexes dropped in early action.

In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index rose 19.41 points, or 0.13%, to 15,171.81.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index slipped 30.11 points, or 0.19%, to 15,774.7.

Toronto stocks rallied Monday, as investors took in news of a massive acquisition in the mining sector.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 123.18, or 1.10%, to 11,372.20.

The U.S.-based Phelps Dodge Corp. offered US$40 billion for Inco Ltd. and Falconbridge Ltd.

Inco moved up $7.03 to $72.28 and Falconbridge gained $2.89 to $58.83.

The materials sector was up 2.26%.

The S&P/TSX Venture composite index fell 15.73 points, or 0.61%, to 2,574.20.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 56.19 points to 11,045.28. The Nasdaq composite index rose 12.20 points to 2,133.67, while the S&P 500 Index gained 6.06 points to 1,250.56.