North American stocks look likely to slip at Tuesday’s open, with oil prices drifting lower.

North American auto makers will be in focus on Tuesday with the release of September sales figures and sluggish results are expected from the Big Three. The Chrysler unit of DaimlerChrysler is expected to have the worst performance. Sales of General Motors and Ford Motor are seen roughly flat compared with last year.

Auto makers also drew attention in Europe, where both Renault and PSA Peugeot Citroen saw broker downgrades.

Crude-oil prices fell 53¢ to US$60.50 a barrel as traders questioned whether leading oil producers, notably Saudi Arabia, would move to lower production to stop a decline in prices.

In company news, aluminum producer Alcan Inc. today announced plans to buy back up to 5% of its 376 million outstanding shares, citing expected solidity in its cash flow going forward.

The Canadian dollar opened at US89.45¢ Tuesday, down 0.22 of a cent.

In European trading, most financial markets lost a bit of ground, with London’s FTSE 100 backing off 33.2 points to 5,924.60, the Paris-based CAC 40 dropping 35.89 to 5,207.24 and Germany’s DAX down 26.61 points at 5,972.85.

In Asia, the benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 12.20 points, or 0.07%, to finish at 16,242.09 points on the Tokyo stock exchange Tuesday.

Toronto stocks fell Monday, pulled down by falling commodity prices, despite a strong day in financials and across the broader market.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 26.12, or 0.22%, to 11,787.39

Eight of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were up, but the heavily weighted energy index fell 1.79%.

The S&P TSX Venture composite index fell 25.71 points, or 1.04, to 2,453.81.

In New York, markets fell back on worries over signs of a slowing domestic economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 8.72 points to 11,670.35, after reaching at intra-day high of 11,726.94 and temporarily surpassing the index’s all-time high.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 20.83 points to 2,237.60, while the S&P 500 dropped 4.53 points to 1,331.32.