North American stocks may open higher Wednesday as crude-oil prices rebound ahead of a weekly U.S. energy report, and U.S. Q2 GDP growth was revised slightly higher.

In today’s economic news, Statistics Canada reported that prices for manufactured goods at the factory gate rose sharply in July as prices for primary metal and petroleum products increased. Prices charged by manufacturers, as measured by the Industrial Product Price Index, were up 1.7% in July following a 0.4% decline in June

Raw materials prices also increased in July, the result of higher prices for crude oil and non-ferrous metals.

Meanwhile, Canada’s current account surplus with the rest of the world fell by $4 billion in the second quarter to $4.2 billion, StatsCan said.

This was the second consecutive important decrease in the surplus after it had peaked at the end of 2005. As in the previous quarter, most of the decline came from a lower surplus on trade in goods.

The Canadian dollar opened trading at US90.24¢, down 0.04 of a cent from Tuesday’s close.

South of the border, U.S. gross domestic product increased at a 2.9% annual rate April through June, the U.S. Commerce Department said in its first revision to second-quarter 2006 GDP. The government initially estimated growth at 2.5%.

The 2.9% seasonally adjusted gain in GDP was much weaker than the first quarter’s 5.6% push forward.

In today’s earnings news, second-quarter profit at Bombardier Inc. dropped to US$58 million from year-ago US$117 million caused by slumping deliveries of regional jets.

Costco warned it wouldn’t meet earnings estimates in the quarter ending Sept. 3, due to thinner-than-forecast profit margins and an income tax charge.

Euronext, the European stock exchange operator that’s agreed to merge with the NYSE Group, reported a 63% profit rise amid strong trading activity at its cash equities and derivatives business.

Oil prices rose ahead of the weekly U.S. inventories report as well as the upcoming United Nations deadline for Iran to halt uranium enrichment.

Light sweet crude for October delivery rose 49¢ to US$70.20 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Overseas, European indexes made gains in afternoon trading but Asian markets finished mixed.

Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 18.54 points to finish at 15,872.02 points.

In Hong Kong, the blue chip Hang Seng Index rose 201.43 points to 17,284.71.

Toronto stocks fell more than 100 points Tuesday as oil prices dropped to their lowest levels since April.

The S&P/TSX composite index fell 106.87, or 0.88%, to 12,060.48

Nine of the 10 TSX main sub-groups were down, with the energy index falling farthest at 1.62%.

The financials sector was hot on the energy sector’s heels, falling 1% despite the Bank of Nova Scotia’s record third quarter earnings. Even though the bank’s net income rose 19% to $936 million in the quarter, its shares dropped $1.30, or 2.66%, to $47.63.

The S&P/TSX Venture Exchange index dropped 17.09 points, or 0.64%, to 2,675.79.

In New York, markets fell after minutes of August’s Federal Reserve meeting revealed that policy-makers believe more rate hikes may be needed to curb inflation.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 20.49 points at 11,331.52. The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 4.7 points to 2,156 while the S&P 500 Index dropped 2.46 points to 1,299.32.